Legal Review of Ethena MLAs
Summary
LlamaRisk has conducted a legal review of the Master Loan Agreements governing Ethena’s reserve-backing asset deployment to two institutional counterparties: Anchorage Digital (via A1, Ltd.) and Maple Finance (via Protocol Pool Operations Alpha LLC).
Scope of Review
For each agreement, LlamaRisk assessed counterparty structure and regulatory standing, asset protection mechanisms (collateral, security interests, enforceability), operational provisions (loan origination, recall mechanics, reporting), default and remedies architecture, and protocol-specific considerations relevant to digital asset lending. The specific contractual terms, commercial thresholds, and pricing provisions are confidential and are not disclosed in this public summary.
Findings
The Anchorage MLA establishes a bilateral lending framework with A1, Ltd., a Cayman Islands entity within the Anchorage Digital group. The Maple MLA establishes a pool-based lending framework through PPO Alpha, a Delaware LLC within the Maple Finance ecosystem. Given the different deployment models, each agreement was assessed on its own structural merits.
LlamaRisk reviewed the confidential provisions of both agreements in detail. As a result of thorough analysis — at some instances with insightful inputs from Ethena Labs on the relevant legal design choices — we can confirm that no material contractual deficiencies are present under either agreement.
Conclusion
LlamaRisk supports the Risk Committee’s approval of both the Anchorage and Maple Master Loan Agreements for the deployment of Ethena’s reserve-backing assets.