Ethena Pay Launches Earn+ Vault With 11x USDe Leverage on Aave

• Ethena Pay launched Earn+, a vault that loops USDe and USDT at about 11 times leverage and advertises up to 12% APY.
• The USDe price feed used on Aave follows USDT, so it may not detect a USDe-only drop in value.
• At 11x leverage, a 2% USDe discount would erase 22% of a user’s starting equity, before costs.
• A 1% rise in USDT borrowing costs would cut simple yearly returns on equity by about 10%.
• Withdrawals can be requested anytime and are processed within 24 hours, though Ethena Pay warns they can take longer.

Ethena Pay has launched a new yield product called Earn+. It advertises returns of up to 12% APY, but its design carries risks that may not show up in reported numbers.

The product was announced on Oct. 28. It uses USDe as collateral and borrows USDT against it, aiming for about 11 times leverage.

Earn+ is run by Upshift and Steakhouse through Aave v4 on Avalanche. Ethena Pay provides the app that users see.

The Price Feed Follows a Different Token

Lending platforms use price feeds, called oracles, to value collateral and debt. Aave uses these prices to measure how close a position is to being liquidated.

In an Oct. 20 technical review, Aave Labs said the USDe price feed on Avalanche follows USDT. It noted that this setup would miss a drop in USDe’s price that does not affect USDT.

The feed uses a Chainlink USDT/USD price with a $1.04 upper cap. If USDe slips while USDT holds steady, the vault could look healthy while users lose real value.

LlamaRisk, in a recommendation amended Oct. 19, proposed a 93% collateral factor for USDe. The exact vault account, its current balances, and its live oracle setup have not been verified.

CryptoSlate modeled a hypothetical position at 11 times leverage. In that example, $100 of equity supports 1,100 USDe against 1,000 USDT of debt.

If USDe falls to $0.99, equity drops 11%. At $0.98, the loss is 22%, and at $0.95, it reaches 55%, before fees and costs.

1/@EthenaPay new Earn+ pays up to 12% on dollars
I traced where that yield comes from onchain https://t.co/eZkwoidmeA pic.twitter.com/UjrEHjmlWu

— Utkarsh | 0xAnon (@0xAnon0602) October 28, 2026

Borrowing Costs and Withdrawals

Because debt equals ten times the starting equity, borrowing costs matter. A 1% increase in the yearly USDT borrow rate would cut simple annual return on equity by about 10%.

Interest also adds to debt over time, which can lower a position’s health. Aave Labs noted that plain USDe does not earn yield on its own, unlike staked sUSDe.

Ethena Pay waives its own entry and exit fees. However, Upshift’s documents allow for management fees, performance fees, and a fee for instant redemption. A fee schedule specific to Earn+ has not been confirmed.

Upshift’s risk rules let an owner multisig pause withdrawals and trigger emergency withdrawals. Its redemption system includes a standard batch queue and an instant option funded by a cash buffer.

Ethena caps total Earn+ deposits at $4.5 million. Individual limits are $20,000 for Standard users, $50,000 for Pro, and $200,000 for VIP.

Ethena Pay as a whole holds more than $8 million in USDe and has about 1,400 active users. The app is live in 47 countries, with the US, EU, and UK listed as coming soon.

Ethena Pay says withdrawal requests have no lock-up and are processed within 24 hours. Its FAQ warns that some withdrawals can take longer.