Provider at a glance
- Category
- Stablecoins
- Entity
- All 3 Ethena products
- Official website
- ethena.fi
Independent rankingchecked How it works
Details
Scored 55 out of 100 under methodology 2026.10.18, from the evidence read in September 2026.
USDe
Synthetic dollar from Ethena
Stablecoins
#9 Overall
Ranked #9 of 11 stablecoins in the published ranking
55
ChainChoice Score
The ChainChoice Score, shown against 100: published scores run from 41 to 99.- High evidence confidence
Is USDe right for you?
Right for you if these matter most
- Freeze and burn powers7/10, the category best
Look elsewhere if these come first
- Who owes you the dollar1/10 here; frxUSD (Frax USD) scores 2
- Redemption at par1/10 here; USDS (Sky) scores 4
- Reserves and assurance3/10 here; the category best is 8
Not yet tested for your country. Markets it lists: Global.
to test where you can use it.
The rank above is the published one, the same for every reader. Find my best stablecoin shows where it lands for you.
What will USDe cost you?
Not priced on this basis
- Your monthly volume
- $1k
How safe is USDe?
- Evidence: verified4 of 4 criteria rest on quoted, sourced receipts. Read September 2026.
- LicenceMiCA (EU): no register record on file here.
Alternatives to USDe
Compare all 4- 7frxUSD (Frax USD)1 point above · stronger on redemption at par (3 against 1)56
- 8GHO (Aave)1 point above · stronger on redemption at par (3 against 1)56
- 10USDS (Sky)Level on score · stronger on redemption at par (4 against 1)55
For your setup
Find out if USDe fits you
The rank above is the published one — the same for every visitor. Answer the category's questions and this section shows where USDe lands for you, which criteria your answers weight up, and which stated needs the record does or does not meet. The published rank stays beside it.
- A few questions
- No account required
- Ranking-blind: no commercial input
- Personalised in under 60 seconds
Find my best stablecoinNothing is inferred from clicks, popularity or commercial value.
Why this rank
Why USDe ranks #9
Each strength is read from evidence on a 0–10 ladder and weighted as the published methodology states. The 32 objective points these produce (8.2 here) sit inside the score; availability, friction, trust record and measured data add the rest. Best in this ranking on 1 of 4.
4 published criteria · Σ weight 100
CriterionWeightStrength · 0–10ScoreContrib.MedianBestRankEvidence
301+0.962.07#8/11Loading evidence…
281+0.903.08#11/11Loading evidence…
243+2.303.08#5/11Loading evidence…
187+4.035.07#1/11Loading evidence…
Hairline = best in this ranking · tick = its median · a missing bar is "not scored", never zero
Margin−1behind GHO (Aave), #8
RobustnessOne point from changingacross a one-point change to each of its 4 criterion scores, the re-run scores 53–57 and ranks #6–#10
Evidence4 of 4 scored4 quoted, 4 with a source link
What would move the rank
Each line is the ranking run again with one of USDe’s criterion scores changed and every other value held: the smallest whole-point change on that criterion that moves its rank, and where the re-run puts it. Up to 4 climbs and 3 falls are listed, smallest change first. Nothing here is a forecast.
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? 1 → 2 on its ladder · passes GHO (Aave)+157#9 → #6
Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? 1 → 2 on its ladder · passes GHO (Aave)+157#9 → #6
What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? 3 → 4 on its ladder · passes GHO (Aave)+157#9 → #7
Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? 7 → 8 on its ladder · passes GHO (Aave)+156#9 → #7
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? 1 → 0 on its ladder · USDS (Sky) passes it−153#9 → #10
Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? 1 → 0 on its ladder · USDS (Sky) passes it−154#9 → #10
What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? 3 → 2 on its ladder · USDS (Sky) passes it−154#9 → #10
Smallest climb: “Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?” 1 → 2 passes GHO (Aave), #8.
Strengths
1 from the score dataWhere it leads
Best for readers who weight
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? — 7/10, the category best
Tradeoffs
3 from the score dataWhere it trails
Not for readers who put first
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? — 1/10 against a category best of 7/10
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? — 1/10 against a category best of 8/10
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? — 3/10 against a category best of 8/10
Record watch-outs
- That you are not the customer. USDe Terms and Conditions, opening paragraph (https://docs.ethena.fi/resources/usde-terms-and-conditions.md, read 2026-08-19 (verification pass)): "For the avoidance of doubt, Holding Users are not customers of Ethena BVI." and section 2: "If you are a Holding User, you do not have a right to redeem USDe with Ethena BVI." Unless you are KYC-whitelisted as a Mint User — a status Ethena's docs describe as "subject to clearing KYC/KYB checks exclusively for approved market making counterparties" (https://docs.ethena.fi/overview/ethena-overview, read 2026-08-19 (verification pass)), and which US residents are barred from by Mint User Agreement section 1 ("Users in the United States are not eligible to become a Mint User.") — your only exit is selling to someone else at whatever the market pays. Compounding it, the redemption a Mint User does get is in kind and pro rata, "Ethena BVI (or an affiliate designated by Ethena BVI) commits to redeem 1 USDe for the notional value relating to its pro rata portion of the USDe Reserves in supported digital assets, up to a maximum amount of 1 USD in notional value, subject to these Terms, applicable law, and any fees where applicable." — a cap, not a floor — and section 11 confirms the reserves "Ethena BVI does not guarantee that the value of one (1) USDe will always or ever equal 1 USD ($1) on any platform. Due to a variety of factors, the value of USDe on third-party platforms such as cryptocurrency exchange platforms could fluctuate above or below 1 USD ($1), and the risk factors highlighted at docs.ethena.fi (as well as presently unknown risk factors) may result in the USDe Reserves falling to less than 1 USD ($1) of notional value per USDe in circulation." None of this is reachable from the product site: as served on 2026-08-19, https://ethena.fi/ contains the word "terms" nowhere in its delivered payload, while its footer strings "Careers" and "Brand Kit" do appear, proving the footer ships and the contract link does not.
Competitive position
Where USDe leads and where it trails
Rank on every objective dimension among the rows scored on it. A criterion in the top third of its pool is listed as a lead, the bottom third as a trail; the middle is neither. Popularity, size and commercial terms are not dimensions.
Availability#1 / 1114.0 of 20 · constant here
Published criteria#9 / 116.1 of 30 · best 15.3
Friction#1 / 112.7 of 10 · constant here
Trust record#1 / 113.2 of 8 · constant here
Measured data#1 / 118.3 of 18 · constant here
Where USDe leads
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?#1 / 11
Where it trails
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?#8 / 11
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?#11 / 11
Closest alternatives
The 3 nearest rows by score
Nearest by published score in either direction. Each card states the criteria on which the two rows differ and the cost difference under the same scenario inputs; the compare arithmetic below shows why the higher one ranks higher.
USDS (Sky)#10 of 11 · score 55 · same score
USDe leads on
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?3 vs 1
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?7 vs 5
USDS (Sky) leads on
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?4 vs 1
Scenario cost: USDS (Sky) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
GHO (Aave)#8 of 11 · score 56 · 1.0 point ahead
USDe leads on
- What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?3 vs 2
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?7 vs 6
GHO (Aave) leads on
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?3 vs 1
Largest single reason GHO (Aave) is ahead: published criteria (+1.0 display points).Scenario cost: GHO (Aave) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
frxUSD (Frax USD)#7 of 11 · score 56 · 1.0 point ahead
USDe leads on
- Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?7 vs 3
frxUSD (Frax USD) leads on
- Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?2 vs 1
- Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?3 vs 1
Largest single reason frxUSD (Frax USD) is ahead: published criteria (+1.0 display points).Scenario cost: frxUSD (Frax USD) has no verified pricing for this scenario.
Against the leader
79 vs 55 · gap 24.0Why PayPal USD (PYUSD) ranks above USDe
The compare workspace's arithmetic applied to these two rows. Each dimension's share of the gap is its weight × the difference, on the displayed scale — it reproduces the displayed gap of 24.0 to within rounding.
DimensionThisPayPal USD (PYUSD)Gap share
Availability · 23% weight · constant here14.014.0same
Published criteria · 35% weight6.115.3−23.9, worse
Friction · 12% weight · constant here2.72.7same
Trust record · 9% weight · constant here3.23.2same
Measured data · 21% weight · constant here8.38.3same
Published criterionThisPayPal USD (PYUSD)Points
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? · w3017−5.76, worse
Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? · w2818−6.27, worse
What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · w2434−0.77, worse
Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? · w1876+0.58, better
Net5579−24.0
Your scenario
USDe is not priced for this scenario
Conversion spread on your volume for a year. Excludes network gas and any withdrawal fee. Change an input and every figure recomputes from the published rate; the published rank does not move.
your cost/yr · default scenario — set your own
Your monthly volume · your input$1k
Rate read from the provider’s published pricing ↗ on 29 September 2026.
your cost/yrCost is stated as your cost/yr in USD; it is never a yield, never annualised, and it does not enter the score.
Not priced on this basis
Under the default inputs · USDCategory median and cheapestNot statedOnly 2 of 11 rows publish a comparable price; a median and a cheapest row need at least 3.
8 of 11 rows in this ranking have no verified rate for this scenario and are absent from the median, not counted as free.
1 of 11 quote a zero fee that leaves costs out, so they are absent from the median and the cheapest row, not counted as free.
Evidence
Evidence read 29 September 2026
One row per published criterion: the page each strength was read from, its source type by domain, the reading date and whether the file and the published table agree. Open a row for the quote and the receipt.
4 of 4 cells scored
Score evidenceVerified4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from receipts
4 of 4 criteria reconstruct from a quoted, sourced receipt equal to the published strength.Public receiptsReading…4 quoted with a source URL
The receipt file has not been read yet.Evidence confidenceHighcoverage and corroboration, never freshness
4/4 criteria scored, with 4 dated sources quoted.RobustnessOne point from changingrank #6 to #10 across one-point re-runs
Whether the position holds when one criterion score is changed by one point and the ranking is run again. It is always a re-run of the ranking, never an estimate.The newest evidence read on the platform is 3 November 2026; this category's reading is older. The scores stand as read on 29 September 2026.
Reading the evidence ledger…
CriterionSourceTypeReadFreshnessStatusReceipt
Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail?strength 1 · weight 30Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size?strength 1 · weight 28Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on?strength 3 · weight 24Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they?strength 7 · weight 18Report an error—29 September 2026*
Unknown
No reading date is recorded for this cell or its category.No receipt
A strength is published but no quote or source page is on file for it.How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
- Control failure (USDe 7/10): a key or vote changes the rules, freezes or mints.Scored by Who can freeze, burn or replace your balance — and have they? · 18%
- Insolvency failure: the firm or issuer that owes you cannot pay.Scored by Who exactly owes you the dollar, and where do you rank when they fail? · 30% (USDe 1/10)Scored by What is really behind it, and what did the third party actually opine on? · 24% (USDe 3/10)
- Exit failure (USDe 1/10): you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.Scored by Can the person actually holding it get a dollar back at par — and has anyone, at size? · 28%
Not assessed by this ranking: Contract failure, Custody failure, Regulatory failure, Information failure. A high place says nothing about these; the Methodology tab says what each means.
Facts
facts, not scoresWhat the record publishes
- Pricing
- ISSUER FEES: NIL, STATED. USDe Terms and Conditions (https://
docs .ethena .fi /resources /usde-terms-and-conditions .md, "Last Updated: August 2025", fetched 29 September 2026), section 12 "Fees; Authorization": "Except as disclosed to you prior to completing a transaction as a Mint User, Ethena BVI will not charge you any fees for tokenizing assets for USDe, or receiving USDe. Any cost of executing a mint or redemption transaction is a cost reimbursement to cover friction such as blockchain gas fees or execution fees paid by Ethena BVI." USDe Mint User Agreement (https:// docs .ethena .fi /resources /usde-mint-user-agreement .md, "Last Updated: August 2025", fetched 29 September 2026), section 9 "Fees": "The Company may charge fees in connection with the Services, which will typically not represent fees for the Company’s own account and will constitute reimbursements for costs associated with transactions initiated by you, such as blockchain gas fees and execution fees." and "The applicable Digital Currency network may charge a fee in connection with blockchain transactions. You are responsible for all such fees." MINIMUMS: THE PAGES ARE SILENT. Neither binding document publishes a mint or redemption minimum; re-searched 29 September 2026, "minimum" still appears exactly once in each document, in both cases as severability boilerplate. What replaces a published minimum is a published discretion, Mint User Agreement section 12 "Transaction Limits": "The Company reserves the right to change the mint, redemption, transfer, and velocity limits as we deem necessary." and "We may establish individual or aggregate transaction limits on the size or number of mints, redemptions, transfers or other transactions that you initiate using your status as a Mint User during any specified time period." Unlike Tether, which publishes a 100,000 USD floor and a redemption fee a reader can price, Ethena publishes no number at all — access is gated by whitelisting, not by a posted ticket size. CONVERSION RATE ON THE WAY IN, Terms section 13 "Currency Conversion": "All tokenizations of assets will be credited in USDe to your whitelisted wallet(s) based on a rate of one (1) USDe per 1 USD ($1) of notional value", with that value set as follows: "Such value shall be calculated by Ethena BVI based on the asset in its sole discretion". NOTE FOR THE CARD: a zero issuer fee is not a cheap product here — it is a fee schedule for a counterparty class the retail reader cannot join (Terms section 2: "If you are a Holding User, you do not have a right to redeem USDe with Ethena BVI."). The retail cost of entry and exit is the market spread, which this spec grades at zero.USDe — official pricing page ↗ · 29 September 2026 - Prices published in
- USDUSDe — official pricing page ↗ · 29 September 2026
- Licences held
- Not published
- Compliance level
- partial
- Regulatory note
- SCORE 1/10 — CONFIRMED. Two independent binding-document routes reach the 0-2 band. A third route asserted in the unverified draft was REMOVED as mis-attributed (see CORRECTION below). (i) THE TERMS DISCLAIM THE CLAIM ITSELF.
- Supported chains
- Ethereum
- Markets served
- global
- Primary markets
- Not published
- Restricted markets
- Not published
- Operating limits
- Not published
- Availability note
- Not published
Legal entity on file: Ethena, placed in 3 products. Only confirmed entities are shown; nothing is inferred from the brand name.
If something goes wrong with USDe: where to complain, and where to report a scam
Loading the routes for your country.
How this page is reviewed
Reviewed means this product in this category was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
Accountable for this review: Mathias Siemonsmeier, Founder.
How we review · Review calendar · Corrections log · How we make money
History
What the record carries
Changes to published ranks are recorded in a ledger; every step and its cause is listed on the rank-history page. The entries below begin with the current verified snapshot, then the methodology versions whose changes applied to this category, newest first.
10 methodology entries
- 29 September 2026Current verified snapshot · methodology 2026.10.18Score 55, #9 of 11. 4 of 4 criteria scored. History starts here; earlier values are not interpolated.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.8When nothing serves your country, the list shown for reference is the published ranking · platform-wide- fixed The reference list shown when nothing serves your country is the published order with the published scores, and a build check now fails any such list out of that order or with a score the ranking does not publish.
- fixed The explorer prints an overall rank only for a row the published ranking holds; a country entrant such as Coinbase Commerce for US merchants shows no overall rank.
- changed Published orders do not move. Country results change only where nothing serves the country: in India bill pay keeps Bitcoin Well first and now shows Strike second, as published; 35 such runs across all categories and countries now match the published list exactly.
- 10 October 2026
2026.10.6A criterion you require re-scores the rows that meet it · platform-wide- changed The explorer sends each criterion you require, at any band, as fit_required with your other answers; region, licence, chain and fact filters stay filters. On /best, a required criterion joins For you as a marked preference does, which needs your country; Overall stays the published ranking, filtered.
- added Every published criterion has a golden case as the explorer sends it (require:<criterion>), so the order a requirement gives is replayed and gated as the published order is, and a change to it needs an entry here.
- 1 October 2026
2026.10.0Layer-2 chains are ranked on whether you can leave with your funds- added Four l2_chains criteria with published band ladders: proof system (18), withdrawals if the operator stops (18), rollup stage (14) and exit window before an upgrade (6). EVM equivalence moves 40 to 17, Ethereum data availability 25 to 15 and maturity 35 to 12. Every chain's emergency exit window reads None, so the exit-window ladder also reads L2BEAT's regular, non-emergency upgrade path (Arbitrum One 10 days, Starknet and Arbitrum Nova 7, zkSync Era 4 days 3 hours); data availability separates full transaction data (10) from state diffs only (9, L2BEAT: Onchain (SD)). A stage L2BEAT marks Under review keeps its last score for at most one 45-day cycle and is never interpolated.
- changed l2_chains ranks through scoreCriterionObjective on fitStrength, like the other criterion-ranked categories; the hand-written structural scorer is deleted. All 105 criterion scores across 15 rows carry a quote and source in research-pending/rereads/2026-10-01-l2_chains.json; 131 of 135 quotes re-fetched verbatim on the read date, and the four behind a bot wall or a JavaScript shell were read by the adversarial model run.
- fixed Four facts corrected on the read: Scroll, Mantle and Blast are EVM-compatible, not equivalent (their own documentation, and for Blast live RPC probes); Starknet's public mainnet opened to users in 2022, not 2021. Arbitrum Nova's data has gone to Ethereum as blobs since 31 August 2026, and the row now leads with the Arbitrum DAO's decision to minimise it.
- fixed The old scorer credited Ethereum data availability whenever the data-availability text contained the word "ethereum", so Arbitrum Nova's committee ("…Ethereum L1 rollup fallback") and Polygon zkEVM's off-chain data ("…Ethereum L1 before the sunset") both scored full marks. Data availability is now a quoted L2BEAT reading.
Methodology 2026.10.18, the same published run every visitor sees · receipt stablecoins:usde:2026.10.18:1e2308e3f28a
Are you USDe? Reply to this verdict, or send evidence, ask for a correction or claim the listing. Every message gets a public ticket number; none of it changes a rank unless a public page or a signed statement supports it.
Show this rank on your site
Editorial review of USDe , on file since April 2026 — the review is separate from the score.