A key agency within the Treasury Department granted a conditional bank charter Wednesday to a crypto-focused bank for the first time under the current Trump administration, and only the second time ever, in a move likely to disrupt the exploding stablecoin sector. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today conditionally approved a bank charter application for Erebor, a crypto-focused bank with ties both to Silicon Valley’s most powerful players and President Donald Trump.  The bank, named after the ...

Core Insights - The governance token of Ethena (ENA) has surged to its highest value since late January, driven by the protocol's move to activate a fee switch that will distribute revenues to token holders [1][2] - The token reached 87 cents, marking an 8.3% increase in the last 24 hours and over 20% in a week [1][2] Group 1: Recent Developments - Binance announced it will list USDe, Ethena's $13 billion yield-generating token, which is crucial for enabling the fee switch mechanism [2] - Ethena generated $54 million in revenue last month and over $480 million since its launch in late 2023 [2] Group 2: Market Dynamics - The listing of USDe on Binance is expected to unlock $500 million for buybacks, according to a prominent investor [3] - Ethena's USDe token has grown significantly, increasing from $5.5 billion in mid-July to nearly $13 billion as investors seek yields [4] Group 3: Yield Generation Strategy - The strategy behind USDe involves using bitcoin, ether, and Solana as backing assets, generating revenue from positive perpetual funding rates [5] - USDe currently offers a 6.5% annualized yield for stakers, outperforming traditional money market funds and lending rates on DeFi platforms [5] Group 4: Expansion Initiatives - Ethena is participating in the digital asset treasury trend, with firms like StablecoinX and TLGY raising $530 million to acquire ENA tokens [6] - The protocol is also launching a native stablecoin for the Ethereum scaling network MegaETH and is considering entering the stablecoin issuance market for Hyperliquid's upcoming stablecoin [6]