Solana-backed OnRe taps Ethena for first ONe token and pool, targets $750 billion reinsurance market

OnRe, a regulated onchain reinsurance company backed by Ethena Labs, Solana Ventures, and VC firm RockawayX, is launching a native token called ONe on Wednesday. Built using the synthetic dollar protocol Ethena, the token aims to expand the utility of USDe and generate returns for users. 

The Bermuda-licensed project is the latest entrant in blockchain-based structured yield products. OnRe offers DeFi-native exposure to the $750 billion reinsurance market, where insurers purchase coverage to protect themselves. In partnership with Ethena, users can deposit sUSDe — a staked version of Ethena's USDe stablecoin — into a diversified reinsurance pool on Solana.

An insurance committee comprised of five members — including two in-house actuaries and an actuary from Willis Towers Watson, the third-largest insurance broker globally — provides oversight. 

According to the project’s website , ONe is projected to return over 30% in bull markets and around 8% in bear markets. These yields come from reinsurance premiums, returns from sUSDe collateral, and ONRE token incentives. OnRe says it could “generate the same income from $10M in TVL as a $500M money market fund.”

“Reinsurance returns are attractive because they’re based on event-driven risks like natural disasters, accidents, or mortality patterns, rather than tied to economic or market cycles,” the team wrote in a blog. “As a result, reinsurance portfolios tend to perform independently of traditional financial assets, offering a source of returns that is historically uncorrelated with equities, credit, or crypto markets."

“OnRe provides the perfect real-world use case for sUSDe, allowing over $6bn in stable capital to earn additional, meaningful yield by deploying into one of the world’s most established financial systems,” Ethena founder Guy Young said in a statement.

Young noted that the product opens up the reinsurance market, which has “long been out of reach for most investors.” USDe itself is minted and redeemed directly through the Ethena protocol, which is restricted to whitelisted users and institutions that have passed know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) checks.

OnRe also has a KYC procedure to mint ONe, although users can participate in the secondary Orca pool, a team member said, and Kamino whitelisted pools will follow soon. Additionally, as a blockchain-based asset, ONe can also access onchain funding rates — the fee futures traders pay to balance perp contracts — and other DeFi protocols “across Solana DeFi.”

OnRe plans to expand beyond ONe with additional pools. 

“Today we’re announcing the launch of ONe and the pool,” said Samantha Bohbot, partner and chief growth officer at RockawayX. “But by deploying ONe TVL today you have incentives and allocation in the eventual ONRE token. By contributing TVL today (into the ONe pool) you’re contributing to an efficient business model that eventually returns revenue to the ONRE token.”