Sep 15, 2026 · 52 min
Ethena bets mainstream banking can run on stablecoins
Guy Young on Why Ethena Launched a Neobank on Top of Its Stablecoin
Ethena Pay tests whether stablecoin savings and payments can reach mainstream users without exposing them to crypto’s technical complexity and risks.
- 1Ethena is shifting from DeFi-native distribution toward a consumer finance product built around savings, payments, and familiar banking experiences.
- 2Athena Pay hides wallets and blockchain mechanics behind passkeys, name-based transfers, cards, and fiat-style interfaces for non-crypto users.
- 3The business will be judged by spending, revenue, margins, and user growth rather than stablecoin balances or crypto-market enthusiasm.
Don't miss
Young explains how Athena Pay is designed to let users save and spend through stablecoins while largely hiding wallets and blockchain mechanics.
The brief
Guy Young argues that DeFi may become backend infrastructure rather than a consumer-facing experience, prompting Ethena to build Athena Pay around savings and payments.
The product aims to reach people beyond existing crypto users by concealing wallet complexity behind passkeys, name-based transfers, cards, and familiar banking flows.
Athena Pay is launching through a controlled beta in roughly 50 countries, with especially strong interest in South America and Asia alongside a longstanding Avalanche relationship.
The interview probes whether USDe’s yield and cashback can last, as backing evolves beyond basis trades while counterparty, compliance, privacy, and regulatory risks remain.
Young says success will mean card spending, users, revenue per user, spending volume, and net interest margin—not simply higher balances or TVL.
What was said on this episode
31 statements · 20 positive · 7 negative · 4 neutral
DeFi will often function as backend infrastructure for user-facing applications.
“DeFi probably just plays a role in the back end for a lot of, you know, user-facing front ends”
Listen at 2:16
DeFi TVL remained below its 2021 peak during the latest cycle.
“DeFi TVL actually didn't even break the peak of where we were in 2021”
Listen at 2:55
The addressable market for crypto neobanks is very large.
“the addressable market for this is huge”
Listen at 6:07
Stablecoins and exchanges could become $50–100 billion businesses.
“stable coins and exchanges could be 50 to 100 billion dollar outcomes”
Listen at 6:19
Revolut and neobanks can reach valuations around $100 billion.
“you look at a revolute in a new bank at a very similar sort of valuation range of 100 billion dollars”
Listen at 6:32
Athena Pay and competitors will compete to reach millions or hundreds of millions of users.
“it's really like a race to see who can who can get to the to the millions and hundreds of millions of users”
Listen at 8:12
Athena allocated 25% of its headcount to Athena Pay.
“we've added sort of like 25% of the total headcount of Athena to just focus on this product”
Listen at 9:52
Crypto neobank users generate roughly ten times normal fintech user value.
“they're kind of 10 times more valuable than a normal fintech user”
Listen at 10:41
Athena expects six to nine months to saturate its initial crypto-native user segment.
“we still have a six to nine month period to sort of fill out that first piece of the sequence”
Listen at 11:46
Athena Pay offers materially higher savings rewards than normal bank deposits.
“the savings rewards that you're actually generating on the balances that are sitting within the app versus the 50 basis points that you're getting within a normal bank”
Listen at 13:18
Owning the yield engine gives Athena Pay a structural competitive advantage.
“we think that that's like a structural advantage going forward”
Listen at 14:06
Self-custodial stablecoin wallets enable global availability from launch.
“it's a very like strong accelerant i think to be able to be global by default on day one”
Listen at 16:58
Athena Pay launched across approximately 50 countries.
“it's closer to 50 now on day one”
Listen at 19:15
Many additional Athena Pay geographies will launch within three to four weeks.
“it'll be a matter of weeks of sort of like three to four weeks until a lot of these new geographies are coming online”
Listen at 20:00
South America and Asia contain Athena’s largest existing user bases.
“we kind of have a very good sense of South America and Asia is kind of where the largest user base is for us”
Listen at 20:55
Athena Pay expects card rewards to be paid in AVAX for the next few years.
“We're expecting that the rewards will be paid in Apex”
Listen at 25:28
Athena currently supplements the natural sUSDe yield.
“Athena is funding on top of the natural SUSDE rate”
Listen at 26:32
Athena’s additional yield incentive will not continue indefinitely.
“that won't last indefinitely”
Listen at 27:02
Athena Pay card spending does not involve lending or leverage against USDe.
“there's no kind of lending or leverage against USD in the process”
Listen at 29:09
USDe’s backing has become safer over time, according to Young.
“the composition of what we do within USD, I would actually argue has become like safer through time”
Listen at 30:00
USDe holders can lose money.
“there is definitely a risk that like you can lose money on USD”
Listen at 31:39
USDe has not lost user funds during its first two to three years.
“never lost even the basis point of users' money”
Listen at 31:54
The current KYC regime should be substantially reconsidered.
“this entire kind of like KYC regime does need to rethink”
Listen at 34:41
Athena Pay’s KYC requirements are largely determined by downstream providers and platforms.
“our requirements are downstream of a lot of the service providers and platforms that we're being built on”
Listen at 36:06
The United States is not Athena’s biggest target market.
“I wouldn't say the U.S. is our biggest target market at all”
Listen at 37:30
Regulatory and local-industry pressure may continue blocking stablecoin product growth.
“it wouldn't be surprising to me to see continued sort of pressure on blocking the growth of these products going forward”
Listen at 39:42
Crypto businesses should avoid relying entirely on crypto-market cycles.
“you just don't want to be entirely reliant on just the crypto cycle as a business”
Listen at 41:25
The current crypto downturn is an excellent time to build products.
“this is actually kind of the absolute best time to build things”
Listen at 46:49
Athena Pay’s waitlist contains approximately 10,000–15,000 people.
“the waitlist now is like 10,000 to 15,000 people”
Listen at 48:15
Some early Athena Pay users deposited $1–2 million on launch day.
“a few guys throwing in like one or two million dollars on like the first day of the launch”
Listen at 48:27
The crypto market has probably passed its worst point.
“my low confidence view is that we've probably seen the worst behind us now”
Listen at 51:26
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.