Happy Friday, DeFi readers!

This week…

USDe’s Ethena to airdrop ENA token

Ethena, the protocol behind the synthetic dollar stablecoin, USDe, has unveiled its plans to debut its ENA governance token.

ENA will make its first appearance in the form of an airdrop, as 750 million tokens representing 5% of the total supply will be distributed to users on April 2. 

The airdrop targets users holding the USDe token – which is backed by a combination of stETH and ETH short positions – with eligibility depending on those users not unstaking or selling their USDe before April 1. 

The total USDe supply has surged from $85 million to $1.3 billion since the start of the year, with high yields driving user adoption.

RWA tokens see 81% rally

Real-World Asset (RWA) governance tokens have seen a jump in price this week, as the combined market cap of the sector rallied 81%.

Ondo finance led the charge with a 123% increase, which has been attributed to financial institutions exploring new on-chain applications for real-world assets. This included BlackRock’s tokenization of a US Treasury fund, named BUIDL – to which Ondo has already allocated funds.

News also arose of major Australasian bank, ANZ, leveraging Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol for tokenized asset transfers.

Bitcoin DeFi garners attention

Focus on Bitcoin-centric DeFi has been ramping up significantly, with a pair of projects acquiring funding for development in the sector. 

First-up was Automated Liquidity Exchange (ALEX) raising $10 million in a strategic funding round led by Spartan Capital, seeking to continue developing its infrastructure on Bitcoin Layer-2 platform, Stacks.

“Hybird” Layer-2 blockchain BOB also raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by Castle Island Ventures, as it aims to introduce the first Bitcoin layer-2 network that is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

Jumping across to the Ethereum blockchain itself, BadgerDAO has launched its own BTC-pegged token, eBTC, which will be backed by stETH. 

The initiative was created in partnership with Ether staking protocol, Lido, enabling users to take out no-fee, reward-bearing Bitcoin loans.

BlackRock meets DeFi?

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has dived right into the deep end of the crypto pool with its new fund, BUIDL, launched on the Ethereum blockchain.

Perhaps as expected, the venture isn’t designed for just any average Joe – it specifically targets accredited investors with a minimum investment of $100,000.

Although its exciting to see the world’s financial giants synthesising their offerings into crypto, BUIDL isn’t very exciting itself. It focuses entirely on U.S. Treasury bills and repo agreements, giving investors a shot at earning some yield in a flashy, high-tech way.

But the vanilla world of traditional finance is big finance, and in just its first week, BUIDL has raked in a whopping $245 million, quickly snagging the title of second-biggest tokenized U.S. treasury fund.

The behind-the-scenes work is likely done by Securitize Markets, known for their dabbling in tokenized securities – though they've been shy about listing BUIDL on their roster. Meanwhile, BlackRock isn't new to the crypto game, having previously launched the iShares Bitcoin Trust, making waves as a top spot Bitcoin ETF. They've even got eyes on an Ethereum ETF, hinting that this is just the beginning of their blockchain bonanza.

Ondo Finance, sitting pretty with $220 million TVL, has commited a hefty chunk of its OUSG fund straight into BUIDL, celebrating BlackRock’s foray into the world of tokenization.

But BlackRock isn’t the only old-school finance giant keeping up with the rapdily-evolving space. HSBC and the Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) are also testing the waters with their own tokenized tricks. HSBC's rolled out a tokenized gold product for the retail crowd in Hong Kong, while ANZ has been playing around with NFTs that represent Aussie natural resources.

It's clear the finance world's getting a blockchain makeover, and everyone's invited to the party.

Interest Rates

DAI

Highest Yields: Nexo at 10% APY, Aave at 9.92%

MakerDAO Updates

DAI Savings Rate: 15%

ETH Stability Fee: 15%

WBTC Stability Fee: 16.5%

USDC

Highest Yields: Nexo at 10% APY, Aave at 8.77%

Top Stories

Ether.Fi's ETHFI Jumps 50% to Record, May Boost Valuations for Liquid Restaking Token Airdrops

Apple Macs Have a Fatal Flaw That Lets Hackers Steal Your Crypto—And There's No Fix

Coinbase to store more corporate and customer USDC balances on Base as TVL tops $1 billion

Binance to discontinue USDC support on the Tron blockchain

Stat Box

Total Value Locked: $98.30B (up 3.6% since last week)

DeFi Market Cap: $113.6B (up 3.88%)

DEX Weekly Volume: $38.92B (down 20%)

DAI Supply: 4.84B (up 2.8%)

Bonus Reads

[yyctrader – The Defiant] – DEX Trading Volumes on BNB Chain Flip Ethereum and Solana

[MK Manoylov – The Block] – Ethereum blobs are now being used to create inscriptions like on Bitcoin

[Lyllah Ledesma – CoinDesk] – NEAR Launches Multichain Transaction From One Account Feature

[Bradley Keoun – CoinDesk] – Protocol Village: Algorand Claims First L1 Using Python as Programming Language