Ethena recorded its largest single day of network growth in more than three months on May 12, as the number of newly created wallets surged alongside a sharp rise in whale activity.
In the meantime, whale transactions involving the ENA token also climbed to their highest level in five weeks.
Network Activity and Whale Growth
Crypto analytics platform Santiment linked the increase in activity to several major developments surrounding the protocol in the days leading up to May 12.
For instance, asset management giant Grayscale Investments added ENA to its DeFi Fund with a 13.59% allocation, a move viewed as a major step toward institutional adoption. Santiment said the inclusion likely contributed to the creation of new custody wallets.
Attention on the protocol intensified further after a $310 million USDC transfer from an Ethena-linked wallet on May 8 and the suspension of a LayerZero bridge on May 9. The growing anticipation surrounding Ethena’s upcoming fee switch activation and expected governance vote could be yet another factor at play.
ENA has fallen more than 85% from the highs it reached in August 2025 as the broader crypto market faced heavy selling pressure. However, the token showed signs of recovery over the past month with a gradual upward move. But fresh selling pressure on Thursday erased part of those gains, leaving ENA up by less than 20% for the month.
Ethena USDe Expansion
In a separate ecosystem development, Ethena’s USDe stablecoin is being integrated into a new institutional-focused lending market launched on Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter through its Jupiter Lend product. The new offering was developed in partnership with Bitwise Asset Management and Fluid.
The launch also represents the first time a traditional asset manager has curated a lending market on Jupiter Lend. Bitwise said Ethena’s expansion into the Solana ecosystem and its growing institutional presence align with its long-term view on on-chain finance and DeFi adoption.
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