Mega Matrix, a publicly traded holding company that has shifted into digital assets, filed a $2 billion shelf registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to fund a stablecoin-focused treasury strategy, underscoring how more firms are experimenting with digital asset reserves.
The funding is aimed at the Ethena stablecoin ecosystem, with proceeds directed toward accumulating the protocol’s ENA (ENA) governance token. Mega Matrix said the move is designed to give the company exposure to revenue generated by Ethena’s synthetic stablecoin, USDe, while also securing influence over the protocol’s governance.
In SEC terms, a shelf registration is a regulatory filing that lets a company register securities for future issuance, allowing it to sell portions of its stock over time rather than all at once.
In its announcement, the company emphasized that the strategy is focused “exclusively on ENA, concentrating influence and yield in a single digital asset.”
Rather than holding USDe directly, Mega Matrix plans to build a significant position in ENA, which could benefit from Ethena’s “fee-switch” mechanism — an onchain feature that, once activated, distributes a share of protocol revenues to ENA holders.
The company pointed to the rapid growth of Circle, a leading stablecoin issuer, and the rise of digital asset treasury strategies as drivers of its Ethena-focused plan.
It also cited the US GENIUS Act, which prohibits issuers from paying yield directly to stablecoin holders. Ironically, the restriction has fueled demand for synthetic, yield-bearing alternatives such as Ethena’s USDe.
“Precisely because the GENIUS act banned issuers from providing yield directly to holders, investors are turning to yield-bearing stablecoins or staked stablecoins to get yield,” CryptoQuant’s head of research, Julio Moreno, told Cointelegraph.
Ethena’s model differs from traditional fiat-backed stablecoins like USDC (USDC) or USDt (USDT). USDe is a synthetic stablecoin designed to maintain its dollar peg using a mix of collateral hedged with perpetual futures contracts. This structure allows the protocol to generate yield from funding rates in derivatives markets.
Although still smaller than its collateralized rivals, Ethena’s growth has been striking. In August, developer Ethena Labs reported that the protocol’s cumulative gross interest revenue had surpassed $500 million.
USDe has since climbed to become the world’s third-largest stablecoin, with a market capitalization of $12.5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Related: Bank lobby is ‘panicking’ about yield-bearing stablecoins — NYU professor
Digital asset treasury companies are gaining traction
Mega Matrix’s $2 billion shelf registration stands out as unusually large for a company of its size. The company currently has a market capitalization of about $113 million, with first-quarter revenue slipping to $7.74 million and net losses widening to $2.48 million. Its core business remains FlexTV, a short-form streaming platform.
Its turn toward digital asset treasury strategies is not entirely unexpected, coming just months after the company spent $1.27 million to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) in June.
Even so, Mega Matrix is not alone in looking to digital assets as a balance-sheet strategy. Many smaller firms have either added cryptocurrencies to their treasuries or pivoted entirely toward digital asset holdings.
One recent example is ETHZilla, a former biotechnology company that has accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Ether (ETH) through a mix of funding strategies. Other companies pursuing similar paths include BitMine Immersion Technologies, SharpLink Gaming, and Bit Digital.
Despite their growth, digital asset treasury strategies carry significant risks, according to Josip Rupena, CEO of lending firm Milo. Speaking with Cointelegraph, Rupena compared the model to collateralized debt obligations — the complex financial products that played a central role in the 2008 financial crisis.
“There’s this aspect where people take what is a pretty sound product, a mortgage back in the day or Bitcoin and other digital assets today, for example, and they start to engineer them, taking them down a direction where the investor is unsure about the exposure they’re getting,” he said.
Related: Yield-chasing ETH treasury firms are most at risk: Sharplink Gaming CEO