PANews reported on December 16 that according to its official blog, stablecoin issuer Ethena announced that it has partnered with real-world asset tokenization company Securitize to publicly launch a new stablecoin product called USDtb. USDtb's reserve funds are invested in BlackRock's US Dollar Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL).
USDtb shares similar characteristics to existing fiat stablecoins such as USDC or USDT, namely, cash or cash equivalent reserves are used to back each token at a 1:1 ratio. Users can transfer USDtb freely and without restrictions. Due to the use of BlackRock's BUIDL as the main reserve asset, USDtb is able to expand without practical limitations, accounting for the vast majority of total reserves (90%), which is the highest BUIDL allocation among all stablecoins.
USDtb is a completely independent product outside of USDe, providing users and exchange partners with a new stablecoin option with completely different risk characteristics compared to USDe. USDtb can also help USDe better cope with difficult market conditions. Ethena's Risk Committee approved a proposal last week to use USDtb as a backing asset for USDe. During periods of negative funding rates, Ethena will be able to close USDe's underlying hedge positions and reallocate its backing assets to USDtb to further mitigate the associated risks.
