ENA climbed to $0.189 on Aug. 28 after changing hands near $0.08 roughly 10 days earlier, as the Ethena Foundation moved to remove a large portion of future venture-capital token unlocks and proposed directing 95% of protocol net revenue toward ENA buybacks once USDe supply reaches defined levels.
The rally follows a prolonged decline that took ENA from its April 1, 2024 peak of $1.52 to a June 2026 low of $0.0699. The token had repeatedly rebounded during that period, only to face additional supply from scheduled unlocks. Ethena’s Aug. 27 update addresses that supply overhang more directly than previous buyback plans by changing the vesting arrangements for major early holders.
The Ethena Foundation said it had bought all locked ENA held by certain major seed-round participants who sold tokens during the previous nine months. Those tokens will no longer be released into the secondary market through future vesting events.
It also reached agreements with major backers to eliminate future monthly venture unlocks. Under the revised arrangement, unvested tokens are being released in a structure designed to end the monthly additions to circulating supply. The remaining original backers’ allocations will accelerate from Oct. 5, 2026, leaving no backer tokens locked after that date. Team allocations will continue to follow their existing vesting schedule.
Buyback plan depends on USDe growth
The Foundation’s governance proposal would direct 95% of Ethena’s net protocol revenue to systematic ENA purchases in the secondary market. The mechanism is not immediately active: it begins only if circulating USDe supply reaches $7.5 billion.
USDe is Ethena’s synthetic dollar, backed by collateral and hedging strategies rather than conventional cash reserves alone. Its outstanding supply therefore has a direct bearing on the revenue base that could fund token buybacks.
The proposal would increase the share of revenue allocated to ENA purchases in stages as USDe supply exceeds $10 billion and then $15 billion. Ethena did not present the plan as a fixed amount of ENA buying; the eventual scale would depend on both USDe circulation and the protocol’s net revenue.
That condition places current attention on USDe’s recovery. The Foundation’s figures show supply fell from about $15 billion at its October 2025 peak to roughly $4 billion by August 2026. USDe would need to add approximately $3.5 billion of circulation before the first buyback trigger is reached.
The threshold means ENA holders now have a more explicit connection to protocol growth, but also a clearer operating risk. A token buyback framework does not create revenue on its own. If USDe demand remains below the trigger level, the proposed allocation would stay inactive regardless of ENA’s market performance.
A shift from reserve-funded purchases
Ethena has used buybacks before. Its Decentralized Autonomous Trust initiative deployed about $890 million across two phases during the second half of 2025, according to the Foundation. That effort relied on a defined pool of capital rather than an ongoing share of operating revenue.
The new approach would create a recurring link between the protocol’s financial results and ENA market purchases, provided the supply condition is met. Community debate over a revenue-sharing mechanism began in November 2024. In September 2025, the Foundation said activation conditions had been satisfied when USDe exceeded $6 billion in supply and cumulative revenue passed $250 million, though the governance process and implementation arrived later.
The revised plan also comes with a broader restructuring of Ethena’s economic ownership. The Foundation said it has reached a master framework agreement with Ethena Labs governing ownership and control of intellectual property and protocol-related value.
Under that arrangement, those assets would sit exclusively with the Foundation and fall under ENA-holder governance. Equity backers in Ethena Labs would no longer hold claims on residual protocol cash flow. Combined with the accelerated end to venture unlocks, the agreement reduces the role of original funding-round participants in the protocol’s future economics.
Backer interest has continued despite the drawdown
Several prominent market participants increased exposure to ENA before the Foundation’s latest announcement. Coinbase Ventures disclosed in June 2026 that it had bought ENA in the secondary market and entered a partnership with Ethena to develop on-chain financial products.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, bought 10.90 million ENA on Aug. 6, bringing his reported holdings to 22.64 million tokens, valued at about $4 million at the time. Hayes reiterated the trade publicly on Aug. 25 and has projected substantially higher prices if broader market conditions improve, though that outlook remains a personal market view rather than a protocol forecast.
Ethena’s new structure removes a predictable source of token supply, while making future buybacks conditional on a recovery in USDe circulation and revenue. That combination may change how traders assess ENA: vesting schedules will become less central after October, while USDe issuance, protocol earnings, and governance implementation will provide the more consequential measures of whether the proposed buyback engine can begin operating.
For more on navigating supply shocks and tokenomics, explore Toobit’s tokenomics guide to sharpen your ENA analysis.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not represent the views or financial advice of Toobit. We make no guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of this information and shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or outcomes resulting from its use. Investing in digital assets involves risk; users should independently evaluate their financial situation and the risks involved. For further details, please consult our Terms of Service and Risk Disclosure.
