# Ketju research: Ethena USDtb

- URL: https://riadefi.com/rejections/ethena-usdtb/
- Verdict: rejected
- Type: Tokenized real-world assets
- Reviewed: 2026-09-24
- Last confirmed: 2026-09-26

## Research summary

USDtb is a dollar stablecoin. Since 13 October 2025 Anchorage Digital Bank, N.A., an OCC-chartered trust bank, has been its sole issuer and the only party that owes the dollar; Ethena Labs lends the brand. The reserve is almost all BlackRock’s BUIDL fund: $397.7 million of BUIDL and $4.0 million of cash against 401.0 million tokens on 31 July 2026. That is why USDtb is often described as a way to hold BUIDL without being a qualified purchaser. It is not. The holder owns no BUIDL share and gets none of its income, which the bank keeps as its fee. The holder owns a promise from the bank to pay $1, and the bank makes that promise only to its own clients.

Anyone may hold and send USDtb. Only the bank’s clients may buy it from the bank or sell it back, and the bank’s terms say a holder who is not a client has no contract rights against it. The bank publishes no minimum and keeps its fee schedule private. On both chains one key can block any wallet, one can pause the token, and one can create USDtb or burn it from any holder; on Ethereum one key can also replace the code and hand out every role.

The assessment is adverse. The reserve and its monthly examination are sound, but a client who holds USDtb gets a $1 token with no yield and no right to redeem, whose price outside the bank rests on a $20 million Curve pool. A client who wants cash on chain has larger dollar stablecoins; a client who wants BUIDL’s yield does not get it here.

## Observable review triggers

- Anchorage publishes terms that let a holder who is not a bank client redeem at $1, or opens client accounts to individuals
- The GENIUS Act takes effect and the OCC names Anchorage Digital Bank a permitted payment stablecoin issuer
- The admin, minter-burner, blocklister, and pauser roles on Ethereum, and the Solana authorities, move to multisigs with a delay
- The reserve report shows a reserve no longer concentrated in one private fund, or USDtb secondary liquidity above $100 million

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Published by Ketju Research (https://ketjuresearch.com). Educational analysis only; not legal, tax, compliance, or investment advice.
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