'The Crypto User Is Not That Loyal At All': Guy Young on Ethena's New Neobank

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  September 16, 2026 at 17:55  |  17:28  |  Unchained (Chopping Block)
Speakers
Guy Young — Founder, Ethena Labs

Summary

Guy Young, founder and CEO of Ethena Labs, explains why Ethena launched Ethena Pay, a crypto neobank, rather than waiting for DeFi growth to return to its 2021 peak. He argues DeFi is becoming backend infrastructure for user-facing platforms, and that Ethena can compete by owning its yield infrastructure and offering higher dollar savings yields. He also discusses Plasma, stablecoin competition, crypto neobank economics, and crypto user loyalty.

  • Ethena launched Ethena Pay after DeFi TVL failed to reclaim its 2021 peak.
  • Guy Young argues DeFi is increasingly backend infrastructure for user-facing front ends.
  • He sees crypto neobanks as a large early market with potential $100 billion outcomes.
  • Ethena claims a structural advantage from owning stablecoin issuance and the yield engine.
  • Crypto neobank users are described as roughly 10x more valuable than typical fintech users.
  • Young says crypto users are not loyal and will switch for better yield or functionality.
  • He does not view Tether-backed Plasma as a competitor and discloses he is an investor in Plasma.
  • Ethena Pay uses self-custodial stablecoin wallets to enable global day-one distribution.
Ideas
Guy Young Founder, Ethena Labs 0:31
Ethena Pay controls distribution with owned yield.
Young says Ethena launched Ethena Pay because DeFi TVL failed to reclaim its 2021 peak and DeFi will mainly be backend infrastructure; controlling the user-facing distribution is more valuable for margin and revenue. Ethena can win by owning the yield engine and stablecoin issuance, vertically integrating them into the app, and dedicating 25% of headcount to the neobank.
ENA HIGH
Guy Young Founder, Ethena Labs 4:45
Crypto neobanks offer large early opportunity.
Guy Young argues crypto neobanks are a huge, early category with potential $100 billion outcomes, comparable to the stablecoin and exchange categories, because rebuilding consumer finance on stablecoin and blockchain rails can be a 10x better product and business, and there is no dominant crypto incumbent blocking new entrants.
Crypto neobanks HIGH
Guy Young Founder, Ethena Labs 6:07
Young is investor in Plasma, not rival.
Young says he does not view Tether-backed Plasma as a competitor, praises its product design, and discloses that he is an investor in Plasma. He sees the real race as onboarding the millions of users outside crypto rather than fighting over the current 50,000-100,000 crypto neobank users.
XPL MED
Guy Young Founder, Ethena Labs 11:47
Ethena dollar offers structurally higher savings yield.
Young argues Ethena's dollar product has a structurally higher savings yield than bank accounts and rival crypto neobanks because Ethena owns the yield engine, while competitors bleed cash to subsidize incentives. This lets Ethena afford free on-ramps and card cashback and gives it a structural advantage in dollar savings at multi-billion-dollar scale.
USDE HIGH
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This Unchained (Chopping Block) video, published September 16, 2026, features Guy Young discussing ENA, Crypto neobanks, XPL, USDE. 4 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Guy Young  · Tickers: ENA, Crypto neobanks, XPL, USDE