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Stablecoins

Standard Chartered Sees Ethena ENA Token Hitting $2 by 2028

The forecast assumes the protocol's USDe synthetic dollar grows to $40 billion in supply, and the token's recently approved revenue-funded buyback program

CoinDesk AI Desk
· 2 min read
✓ 6 SOURCES CHECKED
Standard Chartered Sees Ethena ENA Token Hitting $2 by 2028
Image: Crypto.news

Key takeaways

  1. 2026 and 2027 ENA forecasts. The bank expects ENA to hit $0.42 by end-2026 and $1.10 by end-2027, per the report.

What happened

The forecast is tied to growth of Ethena's USDe synthetic dollar, which the bank expects to reach $40 billion in supply by 2028, and a revenue-funded ENA buyback program approved by token holders on September 8, 2026. ENA traded near $0.25 on the date the report was published.

Why it matters

The $2 target implies roughly 7x upside from the report's $0.28 reference price, and 700% upside from ENA's Sept. 30 trading price, per the bank. Kendrick's model draws on Uniswap's post-fee-switch buyback rate of 3% to 4% annually, which coincided with a roughly 3x rise in UNI's price after the bank began covering it in June 2025. If USDe hits $40 billion in supply with ENA prices unchanged, the bank calculates annual buybacks would retire 23% of all ENA tokens, a rate it deems unsustainable without a corresponding price increase. Ethena currently ranks fourth in stablecoin market cap behind Tether, Circle and Sky, and USDe hit a $10 billion market cap faster than any prior stablecoin after its late-2023 launch.

What is still unclear

  • Key risks to the forecast include slower-than-expected growth in yield-bearing stablecoins, which make up roughly 5% of the total stablecoin market, and failure of tokenized real-world assets to scale as projected by the bank.

Questions readers ask

What is Standard Chartered's ENA price prediction?

Standard Chartered predicts ENA will reach $2 by the end of 2028, with interim targets of $0.42 by end-2026 and $1.10 by end-2027. The forecast assumes USDe supply grows to $40 billion by 2028.

What risks apply to the ENA $2 forecast?

The bank cites slower growth in yield-bearing stablecoins, which make up 5% of the stablecoin market, and slower-than-expected scaling of tokenized real-world assets as key risks to the prediction.

What is Ethena's ENA buyback program?

ENA holders approved a fee switch on September 8, 2026 that directs 95% of Ethena's net revenue to buying back and retiring ENA tokens. The share of revenue used for buybacks increases as USDe supply grows.

Sources · 6 publishers

  1. Crypto.news TIER 2 FIRST REPORT
    Can Ethena price reach $2 by 2028?
  2. Unchained TIER 1
    Standard Chartered Forecasts Ethena’s Token Will Hit $2 by End of 2028 on Buybacks
  3. CoinGape TIER 2
    Standard Chartered Initiates Coverage on Ethena, Predicts ENA to Reach $2 by 2028
  4. CryptoSlate TIER 2
    Standard Chartered says Ethena’s ENA could crush Bitcoin and Ethereum returns by 2028
  5. CoinCentral TIER 3
    Ethena (ENA) Price: Standard Chartered Predicts 600% Rally To $2 – Here’s Why
  6. Blockonomi TIER 3
    Standard Chartered Sets Bold $2 Target for Ethena (ENA) — A 669% Surge Ahead?