In today’s crypto update, Ethena saw its total value locked (TVL) drop from $14.8 billion to $7.6 billion, a reduction of more than 50% that highlights how tricky yield-bearing stablecoins can be.

When markets grow, they grow fast. However, they contract just as quickly. USDe’s TVL dropped as traders exited looping strategies on platforms such as Aave, where they were habitually recycling staked USDes as collateral to borrow USDC, only to swap back and repeat.

This created a leverage of 10x or more, and while it worked when the USDe’s yield was higher than the borrowing cost, now that the yield has fallen below Aave’s 5.4% loan rate, this strategy has run its course.

The USDe performs a balancing act to maintain its dollar peg. It holds regular crypto assets and, at the same time, bets against them in the futures market.

For USDe users, the difference in these two positions is what creates the interest that they earn. Currently, Ethena pays around 5.1% interest, much reduced from the double-digit interest it was offering earlier this year.

The market demand for leverage weakened, in turn reducing the rates the USDe relies on. However, this hasn’t really affected the usage of the stablecoin. Even with less TVL, USDe users are still all in on the stablecoin.

In fact, last month alone, the blockchain saw over $50 billion worth of transactions involving it, proving that the USDe is still useful even if the hype around it cooled off somewhat.

Technical Glitches Derail MegaETH Pre-Deposit Event

MegaETH’s pre-deposit event went sideways on 25 November 2025 after a series of technical glitches caused the planned launch to crash out. The pre-deposit phase allowed users to get their hands on MEGA tokens before the wider sale went through.

Big mistake. More funds flooded in, quickly pushing the deposits beyond the planned $250 million limit. “The $250 million cap is filled by people who were spamming refresh on the Pre-Deposit Website and were able to catch the random opening time,” the team said.

MegaETH finally froze deposits at $500 million and canceled plans to expand the raise to $1 billion. The team is preparing a withdrawal plan that it will release soon for users wanting to opt out.

The auction closed on 30 October 2025 as one of the busiest fundraiser events of the year, pulling in more than $1.3 billion in commitments.

DATs Face The Heat: Where Do We Go From Here?

The collapse of the DATs trade, once a price booster, is now dragging the market down, and big players are facing the heat as well. Michael Saylor’s Strategy, for instance, is under a lot of pressure since the declining BTC has hurt the preferred shares it sold to fund its BTC purchases.

Meanwhile, Cosmo Jiang, General Partner at Pantera Capital, said, “We’re at the point where all the bad news is out there, and the bears are the loudest voices in the room. Their interventions will push DATs toward taking more shareholder-friendly action, which ultimately will be positive for valuations across the space.”