Public holding company Mega Matrix (MPU) has made the Ethena stablecoin ecosystem the centerpiece of its digital asset strategy, betting that the synthetic dollar project can capture market share from incumbents like Circle.
The company’s push comes on the heels of the US GENIUS Act, a comprehensive stablecoin bill that establishes federal oversight of issuers, sets capital and liquidity requirements and creates a framework for banks and fintechs to issue dollar-pegged tokens under regulatory supervision.
However, Circle is currently the only publicly traded option to capitalize on the enormous growth of stablecoins, Colin Butler, Mega Matrix’s executive vice president and global head of markets, told Cointelegraph.
Circle went public in June, with its shares up 87% since listing. The company generated $1.68 billion in revenue and reserve income in fiscal 2024, with $155.7 million in net income, driven largely by interest income from reserves backing its USDC (USDC) supply.
Butler said Mega Matrix sees comparable potential in Ethena: “We think Ethena can do $150 million in the next 6–12 months. That would imply a 6x upside to Ethena.”
He credited Ethena’s growth to USDe, its synthetic stablecoin that generates yield through a mix of staking and hedging strategies. Unlike USDC and USDt (USDT), USDe offers holders a return and, Butler argued, “serves as more attractive collateral,” making it better positioned to capture share in a fast-expanding market.
To give investors access, Mega Matrix has positioned its stock as the first publicly traded digital asset treasury dedicated to the Ethena ecosystem, concentrating reserves in Ethena’s governance token, ENA.
Mega Matrix is positioning its stock as a proxy for the Ethena ecosystem, offering investors direct exposure to the fast-growing stablecoin race. Source: Yahoo Finance“This also opens the door for retail investors to get direct exposure to the stablecoin thesis for the first time,” Butler said. “Until now, the only real way to play it has been Circle, or indirectly through Coinbase.”
Before shifting into digital assets, Mega Matrix operated mainly as an entertainment and game publishing business. The company began exploring blockchain in 2021 and formally repositioned itself as a digital asset treasury in 2025.
The company is funding its digital asset strategy with a $2 billion shelf registration, giving it flexibility to raise capital over time and steadily build its holdings of Ethena’s ENA governance token.
Related: Crypto Biz: Japan’s quiet stablecoin coup
Ethena fee-switch mechanism
When filing its shelf registration, Mega Matrix highlighted Ethena’s “fee-switch” mechanism as a potential value driver. Once activated, the mechanism would redirect a portion of protocol revenues to ENA stakers, allowing tokenholders to share in the protocol’s earnings.
The proposal was introduced by Wintermute Governance in November 2024, requesting that Ethena’s Risk Committee outline parameters under which tokenholders would benefit from revenue distribution. Factors included USDe circulating supply, average protocol revenues and adoption on centralized exchanges.
Later that month, the general proposal was approved, with Ethena Labs setting out a series of “success metrics” tied to circulating supply, cumulative revenues and exchange adoption.
Ethena Labs proposed “success metrics” for activating the fee switch, but no activation date has been announced. Source: Ethena FoundationAlthough those benchmarks have been defined, no activation date for the fee switch has been announced, a spokesperson for the Ethena Foundation told Cointelegraph.
Market watchers note that Ethena’s growth has already exceeded some of the original thresholds. Cumulative protocol revenues appear close to qualifying levels, and USDe’s market capitalization has surged past $13 billion, making it the world’s third-largest stablecoin. Still, the protocol has yet to specify when the mechanism will be implemented.
Source: Ethena USDe market cap. Source: CoinMarketCapRelated: Banks should offer better rates to counter stablecoins: Bitwise CIO
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethena-has-6x-upside-mega-matrix-doubles-down-ena?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound
