Ethena taps Anchorage for secure offchain collateral in institutional lending push

Anchorage Digital is expanding its Atlas Collateral Management platform through a new partnership with Ethena Labs. Under the deal, Anchorage will serve as collateral manager for Ethena's institutional lending activity, allowing the protocol to extend loans to institutions while keeping collateral securely custodied at Anchorage rather than moving it fully onchain.

Atlas will provide real-time monitoring of collateral and loan thresholds, automate margin processes, and execute rules-based actions, according to an announcement on Tuesday. Anchorage Digital Bank already serves as the U.S. issuer of Ethena's institutional-grade stablecoin, USDtb.

Ethena began pivoting toward overcollateralized institutional lending in April as part of a major overhaul of $USDe reserves. The move was aimed at diversifying away from $USDe’s reliance on perpetual futures, which it uses to maintain its peg to the dollar via a basis trade.

"Ethena is building for a future where crypto-native financial products serve increasingly sophisticated institutions. Atlas Collateral Management brings the controls, custody, and operational standards required to support that next phase of growth," Ethena founder Guy Young said in a statement.

This is not the first time Anchorage has offered access to crypto-native borrowing rates and liquidity without having users leave its cold storage system. In January, for instance, the company teamed up with Spark to offer access to the onchain lending platform using offchain assets.

"Institutions want access to crypto-native capital, but not at the cost of custody, controls, or operational rigor. Atlas Collateral Management lets protocols like Ethena Labs meet institutional borrowers where they are, combining the speed of DeFi with the standards institutions require," Anchorage co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley said.