Standard Chartered has initiated coverage of Ethena's ENA token with a $2.00 price target for the end of 2028, roughly seven times the level the bank used as its starting point. The case rests on a fee switch that routes 95% of Ethena's net protocol revenue into open-market ENA purchases as the USDe stablecoin scales toward $40 billion in supply.
Standard Chartered initiated coverage of ENA on Wednesday, forecasting the token reaches $2.00 by the end of 2028, roughly seven times the level the bank used as its starting point. ENA was trading at about $0.26 at press time, putting the target roughly 669% above its current price.
A Buyback-Driven Case
Global Head of Digital Assets Research Geoffrey Kendrick forecasts ENA at $0.42 at end-2026, $1.10 at end-2027 and $2.00 at end-2028 in a note titled "Ethena – A scalable yield-bearing stablecoin." The same report carries Ether at $18,000 and Bitcoin at $300,000 by end-2028. The forecast assumes USDe outstanding grows to $40 billion from $4.9 billion today, against a total stablecoin market the bank sees reaching $2 trillion. Ethena's USDe reached $10 billion in market capitalization within nine months of launch, faster than any other stablecoin, and is currently the fourth-largest stablecoin issuer.
The 23% Problem
Kendrick's argument runs through a ratio. If USDe reaches $40 billion and ENA's price stays where it is, annual buybacks would equal roughly 23% of the token's circulating market value, a level the bank calls too high to sustain. It points to Uniswap, where the fee switch activated in December 2025 and annualized buybacks have stabilized at 3% to 4% of market value, a level reached partly because UNI roughly tripled over the same period. Applying that equilibrium to Ethena produces the 7x target.
Buyback Arms at $7.5 Billion
The approved schedule ties Ethena's revenue take rate to USDe's circulating supply: 5% at $7.5 billion, 10% at $10 billion, 15% at $15 billion and 20% at $20 billion. Nothing is bought below the first threshold, and USDe's supply currently sits at $4.90 billion — about 53% of growth away from its first purchase. Standard Chartered says the outlook could face risks from slower adoption of yield-bearing stablecoins and weaker growth in real-world assets.
Sources: The Defiant, Crypto Briefing
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