- ENA price jumped 6% in a breakout above $0.24.
- Upbit and Bithumb have listed Ethena USD (USDe).
- Arthur Hayes shared a new prediction for ENA, noting a potential rise to $1.
Ethena (ENA) surged sharply Wednesday as crypto markets rallied, fueled in part by major South Korean exchanges listing the protocol’s synthetic stablecoin, Ethena USD (USDe).
The renewed optimism around Ethena’s governance token ENA prompted prominent investor Arthur Hayes to voice a bullish conviction, forecasting a possible move to $1.
ENA rallies as Upbit and Bithumb list USDe
South Korea’s leading exchanges Upbit and Bithumb both added support for USDe.
The platforms announced the listings on Wednesday, meaning USDe is now available on two of Asia’s busiest trading venues.
Upbit supports USDe trading pairs against KRW, BTC and USDT, while Bithumb confirmed a USDe/KRW market.
These listings increase liquidity, accessibility and adoption for USDe in a market where fiat-to-crypto volumes are often substantial.
Upbit listings have historically coincided with price gains for the tokens involved.
ENA, the governance token of the Ethena protocol, stands to benefit from this positive momentum.
At the time of writing, ENA trades around $0.24, up roughly 7% over the past 24 hours. Trading volume jumped about 160% to over $389 million, while USDe saw a 48% volume increase following the listings.
ENA reached intraday highs near $0.25 amid the spike in activity.
Arthur Hayes predicts ENA could reach $1
Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and an influential crypto investor, expressed optimism that ENA could experience a parabolic move in the near term.
The entrepreneur—who has previously backed Ethena’s upside—shared his latest prediction on X, stating that “it is time for $ENA = $1.”
This follows Hayes’ earlier bold market calls and his accumulation of ENA during market pullbacks.
He suggested that broader exchange support, particularly in high-volume markets like South Korea, could accelerate adoption. Stronger demand and reduced friction may apply upward pressure on ENA, enabling bulls to target the psychological $1 milestone.
ENA last traded near that level in January 2025, before broader market declines pushed prices down to lows around $0.22 in June 2025.
Subsequent rebounds allowed bulls to test highs near $0.80, but that area formed a double-top pattern and prices fell below $0.20 in early January 2026.
Ethena’s continued push to integrate USDe across major platforms—efforts designed to drive protocol growth and revenue—could transfer additional upside momentum to ENA.
If the current lows form a double bottom, a renewed run toward $0.80 and then $1 becomes a plausible scenario.