Ethena Labs will allocate $250 million to the Securitize Tokenized AAA CLO Fund (STAC) as the fund goes live on Solana, according to an announcement on Friday. The allocation is part of Ethena's expanding strategy to diversify collateral and backing assets for its synthetic dollar products, USDe and USDtb, beyond crypto-native delta-neutral hedging. Beginning in early 2026, Ethena has actively pursued institutional-grade real-world assets (RWAs) to make its backing more robust and scalable for traditional capital.
STAC Fund Manages $102 Million Across Four Investors
STAC is a tokenized fund issued by Securitize in collaboration with BNY, which serves as custodian for the fund's underlying assets and sub-adviser through BNY Investments. The fund invests in U.S. dollar-denominated AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) sourced from primary and secondary markets to gain exposure to the structured credit sector.
As of Friday, STAC has $102 million in assets under management from four investors, according to RWA.xyz. The fund carries a net asset value of $1,021 and is returning a seven-day APY of 2.42%, with a 0.30% management fee, down significantly from its 30-day average APY of 11.23%.
Ethena Expands Multichain Strategy With Institutional RWAs
Ethena's strategy was initially focused on ETH-based hedging and staking, but the firm has increasingly gone multichain. "As onchain finance evolves, we believe tokenized real-world assets will play an increasingly important role in supporting scalable, capital-efficient financial systems," Ethena founder Guy Young said. "Our planned allocation to STAC reflects our conviction that institutional-grade credit products can become foundational components of the onchain economy."
STAC is one of Securitize's in-house private credit offerings designed to provide investors onchain access to institutional-grade, floating-rate structured credit. The announcement notes that global CLO issuance exceeds $1.3 trillion.
"Expanding STAC to Solana brings one of the largest fixed-income markets in the world onto one of the most active blockchain ecosystems," Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo said. "Ethena's planned allocation further demonstrates how tokenized real-world assets are becoming core infrastructure for the next generation of finance."
Earlier this week, major asset manager Janus Henderson disclosed an investment in Ethena's governance token ENA and plans to use Ethena's staked USDe for cash management. As part of the partnership, Ethena is integrating Janus Henderson's JAAA fund, which is issued by Securitize and invests in AAA-rated CLOs, into USDe's reserve portfolio.
Securitize Plans NYSE Listing in Second Half of 2026
Securitize plans to go public through a SPAC deal with Cantor Equity Partners II to trade under the ticker SECZ. The IPO is expected to go through in the second half of 2026 after the Securities and Exchange Commission cleared the firm's registration statement last week.
FAQ
What did Ethena Labs announce on Friday?
Ethena Labs announced a $250 million allocation to the Securitize Tokenized AAA CLO Fund (STAC) as the fund goes live on Solana.
What is STAC and how much does it currently manage?
STAC is a tokenized fund issued by Securitize in collaboration with BNY that invests in U.S. dollar-denominated AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations. As of Friday, STAC has $102 million in assets under management from four investors.
When is Securitize expected to go public?
Securitize's IPO is expected to go through in the second half of 2026 after the SEC cleared the firm's registration statement last week.
