In this episode, Marissa Trew interviews Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs, to unpack the protocol’s meteoric rise and its impact on the synthetic dollar landscape.

Ethena, a synthetic dollar protocol built on Ethereum, took the crypto industry by storm in 2024, rapidly accumulating over $3.5 billion in total value locked (TVL) within the first few months since its launch.

Guy shares his journey from traditional finance to crypto and explains how Ethena distinguishes itself from fiat-backed stablecoins with its decentralized, high-yield approach. They discuss Ethena's associated risks, its target customer, and how the protocol navigates an evolving regulatory landscape post-US election. Guy also offers his candid take on the competitive landscape within the stablecoin/digital dollar space, and what lies ahead for DeFi.