Ethena Labs and Securitize Launch Converge Blockchain for Institutional DeFi Access

Highlights:

• Converge will use stablecoins for gas fees to attract institutional capital to decentralized finance.
• Ethena Labs and Securitize launch Converge to support DeFi projects and tokenized assets for both permissioned and permissionless use cases.
• Major DeFi protocols and custodians will build on Converge to boost adoption by traditional financial institutions.

Ethena Labs and Securitize have announced the launch of Converge, a new layer-1 blockchain designed to link institutional capital with decentralized finance. The initiative will provide a purpose-built network that supports both permissioned and permissionless financial applications. According to the announcement on March 17, the project will release technical documentation in the coming weeks, followed by a developer testnet. The mainnet is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of this year.

Introducing @convergeonchain: The settlement network for traditional finance and digital dollars, powered by @ethena_labs and @Securitize

Our vision is to provide the first purpose built settlement layer where TradFi will merge with DeFi, centered on USDe & USDtb and secured by… https://t.co/BdOMMflqNl pic.twitter.com/sYxS6p9T8W

— Ethena Labs (@ethena_labs) March 17, 2025

Unlike other blockchains, Converge users will be able to pay gas fees with stablecoins USDe or USDtb rather than a native cryptocurrency. Ethena Labs and Securitize believe that this will help solve the problem around volatile fee structures, which often prevent institutions from adopting decentralized finance. Although other blockchains like Lens Chain and Hela Chain have implemented stablecoins as gas tokens, Converge will be the first network to scale this model specifically for institutional finance.

While the blockchain will support speculative DeFi activity, Ethena Labs and Securitize also see a larger opportunity to serve institutional investors. As a result, they aim to create a platform for issuing, storing, and settling tokenized financial products.

So far, Securitize has issued about $2 billion in on-chain assets, including the BlackRock BUIDL fund, Apollo, Hamilton Lane, and KKR products. By integrating with Converge, Securitize will elevate its role to act as the primary issuance layer for multiple types of tokenized assets.

Converge’s Multi-Tier Ecosystem to Support Tokenized Assets

To fulfill the requirements of different market participants, the Converge blockchain will run three distinct application layers. The first layer would be a permissionless DeFi ecosystem that allows USDe-enabled applications & projects started in-house by Ethena Labs. The second layer will provide permissioned applications, which will enable traditional financial institutions to interact with counterparties who meet know-your-customer requirements using iUSDe and USDtb.

The final layer will introduce new financial products built on Securitize’s tokenized securities. These products will include credit, fixed-income leverage, and equity trading through spot and perpetual swaps.

In addition, Ethena Labs will roll Converge into its existing suite of products. This includes its USDe and USDtb stablecoins as well as the iUSDe, which will be used in the permissioned application layer. This setup will enable financial institutions to develop new, financially compliant products with blockchain technology. Additionally, validators will secure the network by staking Ethena’s ENA token. The USDe and USDtb will act as native gas tokens to enable gasless transactions across all layers of the blockchain.

Key Partnerships and Infrastructure Behind Converge’s Institutional Push

Several of the major DeFi protocols have announced that they will be building on Converge’s institutional-grade ecosystem. Amongst them are Horizon by Aave Labs, Pendle, Morpho Labs, Maple Finance, and EtherealDEX. They have also added key infrastructure providers such as LayerZero for cross-chain interoperability and Wormhole for asset bridging to the blockchain. Pyth Network will provide price oracle services to feed data on the network for DeFi applications.

In addition, Converge has partnered with institutional custodians Anchorage, Copper, Fireblocks, Komainu, and Zodia Custody. These custodians will provide users with asset management and key custody services.