Ethena Pay review: cards, rewards and Earn+
Ethena Pay holds dollar balances in USDe and pays up to 6% a year on them, and its virtual card pays up to 5% cashback in AVAX. Earn+ adds a second balance that targets up to 12% through a looped USDe position.
What does Ethena Pay offer?
Ethena launched Ethena Pay on 3 September 2026 as a money app on Avalanche for saving, sending and spending dollars. It holds dollar balances in Ethena's USDe and pays up to 6% a year on them, adds a virtual IBAN, and issues a virtual card with up to 5% cashback in AVAX. Standard, Pro and VIP tiers set the rates and limits. Since 28 October, Earn+ offers up to 12% APY with more risk.
Upshift runs the vault behind Earn+. Every figure here comes from Ethena Pay's own pages as of 29 October 2026.
Feature | Top rate | Paid in | Main condition |
Main balance (USD Account) | Up to 6% a year | USDe, daily | One card purchase a month for the Daily Boost |
Spend Card | Up to 5% cashback | AVAX, after settlement | Rate steps down as monthly spend rises |
Earn+ | Up to 12% APY | Added to the Earn+ balance daily | Opt-in, capital at risk, $20,000 to $200,000 limit by tier |
Signing up and where Ethena Pay is available
Ethena Pay launched on iOS in about 50 countries, and its launch post puts sign-up at two minutes. The Ethena Pay FAQ lists 47 live countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Middle East, Africa and Oceania, with more to follow. Users must be 18 or older, and the card isn't offered to US citizens, US residents or other US persons.
Ethena Pay Ltd is a private limited company in Malta. It describes itself as a software and technology provider and says it isn't a bank, broker-dealer, investment adviser or money services business.
By 28 October 2026, one month after launch, Ethena Pay reported about 1,400 active users from a waitlist of more than 10,000. It had crossed $8M of USDe balances, passed $750k of weekly card spend and paid over $175k in cashback and balance rewards.
Funding the account and moving money
A new user funds the account in digital dollars or through a bank transfer. Every account gets a virtual IBAN next to the self-custodial dollar balance, and a bank transfer that lands on the IBAN is converted into USDe, because Ethena Pay holds balances, salaries and bills in USDe.
An employer can pay a salary straight to the IBAN, and it lands in the Main balance as USDe without passing through a separate bank account. A withdrawal to a bank runs the same conversion in reverse, from USDe back into fiat.
Ethena Pay's funding partners, MoonPay and Iron (now part of MoonPay), handle the on-ramp, off-ramp and currency conversion, and the third-party fee schedule lists their charges as disclosed by each provider at the time of a transaction. Ethena Pay says funding in digital dollars is free, fiat deposits are free and fiat withdrawals carry a nominal cost.
Transfers to another Ethena Pay user go by name and arrive in seconds at no cost. A user can also send to any crypto wallet or withdraw to a bank, and the app sends a notification for every transfer.
Earning on the Main balance
Dollars in the Main balance, which Ethena Pay calls the USD Account, earn by default with nothing to stake or lock. The Ethena Pay pricing page sets a total rate of up to 6% a year. That total is the underlying USDe rate plus a Daily Boost that Ethena Pay pays to bring the balance up to its tier's rate.
The boost only covers balances up to a cap, and it needs at least one qualifying card purchase in each calendar month. Balances above the cap still earn the underlying USDe rate. Rewards accrue daily and are paid in USDe, usually within 24 hours of the end of each day (Central European Time). Ethena Pay calls the Daily Boost a discretionary promotional incentive and can change or end it.
Spending with the Ethena Pay card
The Ethena Pay Spend Card is a virtual card that a user can create in under a minute and add to Apple Pay or Google Wallet. A third-party card issuer issues it under license from the card network. The card currently charges 0% APR on purchases, and Ethena Pay adds no fee or markup on foreign currency spending. The card network's own conversion fee, around 1% for most currencies, passes through at cost.
Cashback is paid in AVAX, Avalanche's native token, at the AVAX price when it's credited. The rate steps down as monthly spending rises, and each rate applies only to the part of the month's spending inside its band:
Tier | First band | Higher bands |
Standard | 4% on the first $2,500 | 1% to $4,000, then 0% |
Pro | 4.5% on the first $8,000 | 2% to $10,000, 1% to $12,000, then 0.5% |
VIP | 5% on the first $20,000 | 2% to $30,000, 1% to $40,000, then 0.5% |
Ethena Pay's FAQ works through an example: a Pro user who spends $9,000 in a month earns 4.5% on $8,000 and 2% on $1,000, for $380 in total. Purchases under $1, ATM withdrawals, crypto purchases, gambling, gift cards and peer-to-peer transfers earn nothing. Cashback arrives a few days after a purchase, once the transaction settles.
Other card fees on the pricing page:
- ATM withdrawals, where available: $1.00 plus 0.65% of the amount.
- Late payment fee of up to $40 and returned payment fee of up to $29.
- No fee to issue, replace or activate the card, and no account, monthly or inactivity fees.
- Blockchain network fees and merchant surcharges, where they apply, come on top.
Ethena Pay tiers compared
Standard | Pro | VIP | |
Main balance rate | 5% a year | 6% a year | 6% a year |
Balance that earns the full rate | Up to $5,000 | Up to $100,000 | Up to $1,000,000 |
Top card cashback | 4% | 4.5% | 5% |
Earn+ limit per user | $20,000 | $50,000 | $200,000 |
Ethena Pay's Earn+ post says users will be able to upgrade tiers in the app shortly. It hasn't published what an upgrade costs or requires.
Moving money into Earn+
Earn+ is an optional second balance that moves dollars out of the USD Account into an external vault. Ethena Pay launched it on 28 October 2026 at up to 12% APY, first for Pro and VIP users. A user accepts the Earn+ terms and risk disclosures on the first visit, then picks an amount and confirms it, after which rewards are added once a day.
Behind the balance, Steakhouse Financial supplies USDe as collateral on Aave v4 on Avalanche, borrows USDT, buys more USDe and repeats, targeting a ratio of about 11x according to Ethena Pay's launch post. Upshift runs the vault that takes deposits, issues vault shares and processes withdrawals. Withdrawals are paid into the USD Account within 24 hours with no Ethena Pay fee, and money in Earn+ doesn't earn the Daily Boost.
Ethena Pay calls Earn+ a third-party product and says a user could lose some or all of the money moved into it. The Earn+ explainer covers the mechanics, and the Earn+ risk guide covers liquidation and exit costs.
Custody, security and deposit protection
Ethena Pay is a non-custodial app. Its FAQ says private keys and recovery phrases live on the user's device, Ethena Pay has no access to them and can't recover them if they're lost. Sign-in uses passkeys with Face ID or a fingerprint, and data is encrypted end to end.
None of the balances is a bank deposit. Ethena Pay's disclosures say USDe, AVAX and other digital assets can lose value, including all of it, and aren't covered by the FDIC, the UK's FSCS, Malta's Depositor Compensation Scheme or any similar scheme. Always make sure to do your own research and be aware of the above and any other risks before depositing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ethena Pay available in the US or EU?
Not as of 29 October 2026. Ethena Pay's FAQ lists live countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Middle East, Africa and Oceania. The September launch post listed US and EU support on its roadmap.
What does the Ethena Pay 6% rate include?
It's a total. Ethena Pay pays the underlying USDe rate plus a Daily Boost up to the tier's rate, and if the USDe rate ever rises above the tier rate, the boost drops to zero and the balance earns the USDe rate.
Why is Ethena Pay cashback paid in AVAX?
Ethena Pay is built on Avalanche and credits cashback in its native token. Ethena Pay converts the dollar amount at the AVAX price when it credits the cashback, and the AVAX can then rise or fall in dollar value.
Does a refund reverse Ethena Pay cashback?
Yes. A refund reverses the cashback on that purchase and also takes the amount out of the month's spending total, which restores the higher band for later purchases.
Does Ethena Pay have a referral bonus?
A referral pays a $30 equivalent in AVAX once the new user registers through the link, passes identity checks and completes the qualifying activity. Ethena Pay usually credits it within 30 days.
Can Ethena Pay recover a lost wallet?
No. Keys and recovery phrases stay on the user's device, and Ethena Pay's FAQ says it can't recover them if they're lost.
Is Earn+ included in every Ethena Pay account?
Earn+ opened to Pro and VIP users on 28 October 2026, and Ethena Pay said on X it would reach every user in the coming days. Each tier has its own Earn+ limit, from $20,000 to $200,000.
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