Ethena partners with TON and Telegram to launch a global dollar savings service for 1 billion users.

On May 2nd, the stable yield protocol Ethena announced a partnership with the TON Foundation to officially integrate its core product USDe into the Telegram native Wallet @wallet_tg, providing seamless access to dollar savings services for over 1 billion users worldwide. This integration marks an important milestone in Ethena's efforts to promote global dollarization, particularly significant for emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, which face higher inflation pressures.

The cooperation will be promoted in phases, covering three core directions, and will be gradually launched within May:

1. Non-custodial wallet integration: USDe and its native version tsUSDe will be integrated into mainstream non-custodial wallets such as TON Space, @tonkeeper, and @mytonwallet_io. Users can obtain USDe through @ston_fi or @starGate.iofinance and stake USDe on the TON network to generate tsUSDe.

2.Telegram Wallet Direct Connection: Telegram's native wallet @wallet_tg will launch the USDT Earn Vault, allowing users to stake USDT while earning Ethena rewards, and supporting USDe as a second native dollar asset integration, achieving a seamless savings experience.

3. DeFi Scenario Expansion: Ethena will provide underlying support for core DeFi use cases such as lending, fixed-rate swaps, derivatives, and trading on TON, further improving the financial infrastructure of the TON ecosystem.

Among them, users holding tsUSDe will enjoy an additional reward mechanism: each TON user can receive an extra 10% annual percentage yield (APY) on a maximum of 10,000 tsUSDe, and the reward will be distributed weekly in the form of TON. Specific eligibility details will be announced later by the TON official and wallet platform.

The cross-chain and native integration of USDe and tsUSDe on TON is supported by LayerZero at the underlying level. LayerZero not only enables the scalability of USDe across multiple chains but also lays the foundation for a native user experience within Telegram.

The high-frequency user ecosystem of TON and Telegram provides a natural distribution advantage for Ethena's global expansion. Taking China's Alipay Yu'ebao and Tencent Licai Tong as examples, the digital currency market funds on these two major platforms once attracted over 850 million users at their peak, with a total of more than 265 billion USD in fund accumulation. The cooperation between Ethena and TON is expected to replicate this successful path on a global scale, providing a viable, safe, and high-yield USD alternative savings solution for over 3 billion people facing more than 4% local currency inflation.

In the future, Ethena will continue to expand its product integration with TON, including the Ethena debit card and direct payment functionality for Apple Pay. This payment feature is expected to launch in the summer and is currently awaiting approval from card organizations. At that time, Telegram users will be able to use tsUSDe rewards for direct consumption, achieving a complete closed loop from USD storage to daily spending.

Ethena will continue to support DeFi innovation on TON, planning to launch more innovative dollarized asset products in collaboration with multiple TON ecosystem DeFi protocols in the third quarter, bringing a richer crypto financial experience to Telegram users.