$4.49B USDe gives the copycats the wrong lesson: Ethena's reflexivity sat on actual delta-neutral carry, not just a USD ticker plus emissions. Aave V3 and Morpho Blue are ~$12.6B and ~$7.1B TVL balance sheets; paying into those rails turns token spend into borrow-rate discovery, collateral haircuts, and liquidation behavior instead of bribed Curve inventory. When the subsidy decays, a lending market leaves you with users who needed leverage or credit; a passive LP pool leaves you with the next farm's mercenary stablecoin float.

Top comment by @Benthic