Ethena team accused of misusing 180M ENA tokens to farm Sats

As a seasoned researcher with years of experience in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrencies, I find myself increasingly intrigued by the recent allegations against Ethena Labs. The accusation that they may have used a significant portion of their own tokens for farming events is certainly a red flag.


As a crypto investor, I’ve recently learned that Ethena Labs, the Ethereum-based synthetic dollar platform, is under scrutiny for reportedly involving 180 million Ethena tokens in one of their recent farming events they hosted.

On October 27th, crypto investigator Nomad claimed that the Ethena team holds approximately one-quarter of all staked ENA (SENA) during their Season 3 farming event. These ENA tokens are employed for farming Sats, which are distributed as rewards to users who engage in different activities within the Ethena ecosystem.

When voicing concerns about the team’s moral standards, Nomad cautioned that the action could substantially lessen the benefits for genuine participants, primarily those holding Ethens (ENA) or Ethenas USDe (USDE).

Ethena team accused of misusing 180M ENA tokens to farm Sats

Ethena didn’t promptly answer CryptoMoon’s query about the accusations. Nevertheless, they refuted the claims of misconduct.

Six Ethena-linked wallets in question

As an analyst, I’ve discovered that, according to my findings, the Coinbase Prime Custody wallet received a substantial amount of approximately 3 billion ENA tokens in August. These tokens could have been locked for the Ethena Labs core team and the Ethena Foundation, potentially indicating a significant transfer or allocation.

In October, the Coinbase Prime Custody address transferred 180 million ENA tokens to six Ethena digital wallets, which happened after the launch of the SENA staking program in September. These same wallets have since appeared on Ethena’s leaderboard for earning Satoshi rewards (Sats farming).

Ethena team accused of misusing 180M ENA tokens to farm Sats

Besides earning Satoshi (Sats), wallets potentially tied to the Ethena group also received Ethereal token rewards (ETRL).

Investigators also claimed that the Ethena group’s 180 million ENA tokens earned approximately 20% of all Ethereal points assigned to their community users. Moreover, Nomad emphasized the significance of trust in interactions with centralized financial institutions.

“No one really knows how much funding revenue and staking revenue Ethena is generating from the $2.6 billion user fund or if it’s streaming all revenue to SUSDe holders.”

Ethena users suffered losses in previous staking events

Additionally, the investigator noted irregularities in Ethena’s past farming events during Seasons 1 and 2, which appear to have caused harm to its users. Numerous individuals reported significant financial setbacks as a result.

On platform X, the accusations towards Ethena Labs sparked curiosity among cryptocurrency enthusiasts, prompting numerous individuals to call for a response from the protocol.

As stated by Ethena, the ENA at issue are foundation tokens that can be used for participation and have already been locked in. To address any misunderstandings or accusations, the protocol will offer additional explanations for clarity.

Ethena team accused of misusing 180M ENA tokens to farm Sats

As a financial analyst, I am excited to share that on October 25th, I was part of the announcement made by Wintermute, an algorithmic trading firm, regarding their acceptance of Ethena’s USDe digital currency as margin collateral for Over-The-Counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trades. This collaboration marks a significant step in the evolving world of digital assets and demonstrates the growing acceptance and integration of such currencies within the financial industry.

Through this partnership, Wintermute’s clients now have the option to use “USDe” as security for options, credit default swaps, forward trades, and spot trading.

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2024-10-28 14:28