Ethena Pay, the consumer money app launched by Ethena Labs on Sept. 1, now expects to begin opening in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe in about three to four weeks, founder and CEO Guy Young said.
Young gave the updated timetable during a livestream interview with Unchained recorded on Sept. 14. He said opening those markets is the team’s top priority, naming the U.S., Europe, the U.K. and parts of Asia, including Taiwan. In his words, many of these new geographies should start coming online in a matter of weeks, roughly three to four weeks.
Updated launch window trails earlier target
The revised timing is later than Ethena’s earlier plan. In a Sept. 3 blog post, the company listed support for the U.S. and the EU among the features it said were coming in September.
On Ethena Pay’s jurisdictions page, the U.S., the EU, the U.K., Switzerland, Canada, Taiwan and South Korea are all marked as coming soon, though no dates are listed there.
Card partners are affecting the pace
Young said the schedule depends in part on the companies that issue and operate the app’s Visa card. He said Ethena is constrained by the timelines those partners have for bringing the product into those markets.
According to the card’s terms, the card is issued by Third National and managed by Rain. It is currently not available to U.S. citizens, residents or other U.S. persons.
U.S. is not a top-priority market for the app
Even with the U.S. included in the coming-soon list, Young said it is not a priority market for Ethena Pay. He said that, in terms of where the team thinks the product can ultimately go, the U.S. is not even a top-five priority market.
Young added that most of Ethena’s users are already in South America and Asia.
App remains in gated beta
Ethena, the issuer of the synthetic dollar USDe, has presented the app as a way to reach users directly rather than through exchanges.
The app is still in a gated beta. Young said that is intentional because the team wants to move in a slow and controlled way.