ENA, the native token of Ethena, has been experiencing a considerable amount of selling pressure in the past few weeks. This trend has led to a drastic drop in the token’s value, with ENA plummeting to $0.73, marking its lowest price point since May 20th. Unfortunately, this downward spiral has resulted in substantial losses for ENA stakers.
Whale Unstake and Sell-Off
The largest ENA staker, holding a whopping 23.24 million ENA valued at around $17.3 million, made a surprising move by unstaking their entire position on Tuesday. Following the unstaking, the whale proceeded to sell 19.36 million ENA, equivalent to over $14.1 million, at a significant loss. This decision came after the investor had previously withdrawn 23.24 million ENA from Binance in April, when the token was trading at approximately $1.29. The recent sell-off has left the investor with only 3.88 million ENA, valued at $2.74 million, resulting in a staggering loss of more than $13 million.
Failure to Rebound
Despite the steady growth of its ecosystem, ENA has failed to show any meaningful signs of recovery. Data from DefiLlama indicates that the Total Value Locked (TVL) in the Ethena project has been steadily increasing, reaching an impressive $3.44 billion as of June 12th. Additionally, the USDe stablecoin within the Ethena ecosystem has witnessed remarkable growth since its launch to the public. In its first week alone, the supply of USDe reached $400 million, eventually surging past $2 billion within just two months. However, this meteoric rise has raised concerns, especially in light of the collapse of Terra’s UST stablecoin.
The recent events surrounding ENA and the Ethena ecosystem have highlighted the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. The significant selling pressure, coupled with the unexpected actions of large stakeholders, serves as a reminder of the risks involved in investing in tokens like ENA. Moving forward, it will be crucial for the Ethena team to address these challenges and work towards rebuilding investor trust and confidence in the project.