Terminal Finance, a spot decentralized exchange designed for trading yield-bearing stablecoins and institutional assets, has announced it has surpassed $280 million in pre-deposit total value locked. This significant figure was achieved ahead of the platform's upcoming launch and reflects the combined capacity of three pre-deposit vaults, which collectively reached their caps of 225 million USDe, 10,000 WETH, and 100 WBTC.
The decentralized exchange (DEX) launch is scheduled for the end of the year, with the Token Generation Event (TGE) expected to occur around the same period. The pre-deposit total value locked (TVL) is publicly verifiable through DeFiLlama, a platform that tracks Terminal's vault activity and growth.
Terminal's Role and Core Offerings
Terminal operates as the de facto DEX of the Ethena ecosystem. While it functions independently, the platform was incubated by Ethena. Upon launch, Terminal will feature USDe, sUSDe, and USDtb (backed by BlackRock BUIDL) as its primary pairing assets. This will enable trading against major assets such as ETH and BTC. The DEX is built upon the foundation of yield-bearing stablecoins, aiming to provide enhanced composability across decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems.
“At Terminal, we’re building the deepest liquidity pools to trade Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, against any asset, from crypto to tokenized real-world assets. By designing the DEX around a yield-bearing dollar, Terminal benefits from improved economics by default. This makes liquidity bootstrapping significantly more efficient for token issuers and sets a new standard for capital productivity in DeFi,” said Co-Founder & CEO Sam Benyakoub.
Innovative Yield Skimming Mechanism
Terminal distinguishes itself from conventional decentralized exchanges through its unique Yield Skimming mechanism. This system is designed to capture the yield generated by yield-bearing assets, such as sUSDe, and then reintroduces this yield back into the DEX economy. This approach is intended to benefit liquidity providers, traders, and token holders by improving the efficiency and economics of on-chain markets.
Pre-Deposit Phase and Airdrop Rewards
The pre-deposit phase saw participation from over 10,000 wallets. Early participants are slated to receive airdrop rewards as part of the TGE. Public information from Ethena's website indicates that up to 10% of Terminal's governance token supply may be distributed to sENA holders, calculated via the Terminal Points system. The tracking of these points commenced on June 28. Final eligibility criteria, allocation details, and the specific timing for these rewards will be confirmed closer to the TGE.
“Ethena assets have become an engine for DeFi rewards, powering most major Ethereum-based applications today at a billion-dollar scale. The Terminal team has taken this concept, building their spot DEX using sUSDe at its core, to drive additional value to users. We’re proud that the Terminal team is a core part of the Ethena ecosystem,” said Head of Strategy at Ethena, Nick Chong.
Future Expansion and Vision
Terminal has outlined plans to expand its operations across multiple blockchains. This expansion will align with Ethena’s broader USDe growth strategy. The ultimate goal is for Terminal to become the leading liquidity hub for yield-bearing stablecoins within the DeFi space.
About Terminal Finance
Terminal Finance is a spot decentralized exchange that was incubated by Ethena Labs. It has been purpose-built for the trading of yield-bearing stablecoins and institutional assets. By integrating Ethena's synthetic dollar, USDe, and its yield-bearing counterpart, sUSDe, Terminal inherently benefits from improved economic dynamics. During its pre-deposit phase, Terminal successfully attracted over $280 million in deposits and established integrations with prominent DeFi protocols, including Pendle, EtherFi, and Morpho. Positioned as the liquidity hub for the Ethena ecosystem, Terminal aims to connect yield, liquidity, and token issuance across various chains, thereby establishing a robust foundation for the next generation of on-chain markets.