Ethena Foundation has proposed directing up to 95% of protocol revenue paid to the foundation into ENA token buybacks once USDe reaches specified supply milestones, linking the token’s potential demand more directly to the growth of Ethena’s stablecoin and related businesses.
The proposal arrives alongside a restructuring of ENA lockups and protocol ownership. Ethena Foundation said it has purchased locked ENA from certain seed holders that had sold tokens during the previous nine months, plans to replace remaining monthly original-backer unlocks with a single release on Oct. 5, and has reached an agreement in principle to move most protocol intellectual property and economic rights into the foundation ecosystem.
The measures address two recurring concerns around token networks: the risk that scheduled token unlocks add selling pressure over time, and whether token holders have a credible claim on the value generated by the underlying protocol.
Buybacks would start only after USDe reaches $7.5 billion
The fee-switch proposal is subject to an Ethena governance vote and would not immediately send protocol income into ENA purchases. The foundation said open-market buybacks would begin after USDe, Ethena’s synthetic dollar, reaches a $7.5 billion supply threshold.
Ethena Foundation put USDe supply at roughly $4.6 billion, leaving the protocol about $2.9 billion below the first trigger. That condition makes the proposal dependent on renewed expansion in USDe rather than current revenue alone.
Once the initial supply milestone is reached, 95% of net revenue paid to the foundation from Ethena’s three stated business lines would be used for ENA buybacks. The remaining 5% would be reserved for growth initiatives. The business lines are USDe savings products, white-label stablecoins, and Ethena X, a product the foundation said is scheduled to launch next week.
The proposal refers specifically to revenue received by the foundation, rather than all gross revenue generated across companies associated with Ethena. Net revenue also leaves room for operating costs and other deductions before funds are available for buybacks. Those details will be central to how traders assess the practical scale of any future ENA purchases.
A milestone-based structure gives Ethena an incentive to expand USDe supply before activating token-market support. It also means the proposal does not create a near-term guarantee of buyback demand if USDe remains below the threshold.
Locked seed tokens were bought from prior sellers
Ethena Foundation said it completed over-the-counter purchases of locked ENA during the past two weeks from certain major seed holders that had sold tokens over the nine months since ENA’s market peak on Oct. 10, 2025.
The process covered wallets initially allocated more than 0.25% of ENA’s total supply. The foundation divided those wallets into two groups: holders that had sold at least one ENA token during the period, and holders that had not sold any tokens.
Wallets that had not sold ENA were offered the opportunity to sell their locked holdings at their original purchase price without a discount. None accepted that offer, according to the foundation.
For wallets that had sold ENA, the foundation said it bought all remaining unvested tokens except for the holdings of one wallet that declined to participate. The foundation did not identify the counterparties, disclose how many ENA tokens changed hands, or provide the value of the over-the-counter purchases.
The result, according to the foundation, is that seed wallets covered by the process that had sold ENA no longer hold unvested tokens that could later enter the market. The arrangement narrows a portion of the future unlock overhang, although its market effect cannot be measured without the undisclosed token amounts.
Oct. 5 will replace monthly original-backer unlocks
Ethena Foundation and its lead backers have also agreed to unlock all remaining original-backer tokens at once from Oct. 5, replacing the existing monthly release schedule.
The decision concentrates the remaining original-backer supply event into a single date rather than extending it through recurring monthly releases. It gives the market a clearer final deadline for that category of tokens, while potentially creating a more closely watched supply event around the October release.
Team tokens will remain under their original vesting schedules. After the planned changes, Ethena Foundation said approximately 12% of total ENA supply will remain locked and unvested, held only by the team, ecosystem entities, and the foundation.
StablecoinX will continue to operate under a separate lockup schedule set out in its publicly filed token purchase agreement. The foundation described StablecoinX as one of ENA’s two largest holders, with about 20% of the total supply.
The different treatment reflects the varied legal and commercial arrangements behind ENA allocations. While the proposed Oct. 5 release would resolve the remaining original-backer schedule, it would not eliminate every future source of token vesting.
Foundation seeks control of protocol IP and economic rights
Ethena Foundation said it and Ethena Labs have reached an agreement in principle on a Master Framework Agreement covering ownership of the protocol and the value it generates.
Under the proposed arrangement, substantially all material intellectual property connected to the protocol would be assigned or exclusively licensed to Ethena Foundation and its ecosystem. The foundation said those rights would sit with the ecosystem rather than with Ethena Labs equity holders.
The proposed framework would also direct economic benefits from the protocol to the foundation and ecosystem. That includes proceeds from any future sale of the underlying business, according to the announcement.
Such a structure would place the foundation closer to the center of Ethena’s operating assets and cash-flow rights, while the proposed fee switch would give ENA governance a defined mechanism for using a share of foundation revenue to purchase tokens. The foundation expects to publish the Master Framework Agreement in October.
The package does not by itself determine how much revenue Ethena will produce, how rapidly USDe can grow toward the $7.5 billion threshold, or whether governance will approve the fee switch. It does establish a more explicit framework for ENA’s supply schedule, the foundation’s ownership role, and the conditions under which protocol revenue could enter the token market.
For deeper insight into stablecoin design and impacts, explore our guide on stablecoins and how they work today.
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