ENA Jumps 10% as Ethena Seeks Approval for Revenue-Funded Buybacks

Ethena’s native token ENA surged after the Ethena Foundation announced a package of governance and treasury updates aimed at changing how the protocol’s revenue is handled and how certain investor token schedules unwind.

In an ecosystem update posted Thursday, the foundation detailed four changes, including a vote on a “fee-switch” mechanism that would direct a large share of net revenue toward ENA buybacks once Ethena’s synthetic dollar supply (USDe) reaches a specified milestone.

Key takeaways

• The Ethena Foundation opened a governance vote on a fee-switch proposal tied to USDe reaching a $7.5 billion milestone.
• Under the proposal, 95% of the foundation’s net revenue from Ethena’s core business lines would be used to buy ENA after the threshold is met.
• Tokenholders have until Sept. 2 to vote; at the time of publication, Snapshot showed 65 votes representing about 14.4 million ENA voting power, all in favor.
• The foundation also said it completed a buyout of locked ENA held by certain early investors and agreed to adjust remaining investor unlock timing to Oct. 5.

Fee-switch proposal links buybacks to USDe scale

The center of the announcement is a governance vote on whether to switch Ethena’s fee handling toward token repurchases. According to the Ethena Foundation’s blog post, 95% of the net revenue paid to the foundation from Ethena’s core business lines would be allocated to purchase ENA once the circulating supply of USDe reaches the first milestone of $7.5 billion.

Voting runs until Sept. 2. Data from Snapshot shows all cast votes so far have supported the proposal. At the time of writing, 65 votes accounting for roughly 14.4 million ENA in voting power were recorded, with every one of them in favor.

For ENA holders, the significance is practical: if implemented, the buyback program would effectively transform a portion of protocol revenue into recurring demand for the token—though the trigger is conditional on USDe growth, which means timing depends on how quickly supply climbs to the milestone.

ENA reacts as governance activity accelerates

Market pricing reflected the renewed focus on treasury policy. CoinGecko data shows ENA rose 10.7% over 24 hours and gained 27% over the past week, trading above $0.17 as of 8:11 am UTC on Friday.

Even without assuming the vote’s outcome, the governance framing itself can matter to traders: buyback mechanisms are often viewed as a direct link between protocol economics and token supply dynamics. Here, the foundation’s proposal is explicit about how revenue would be used after the USDe threshold is reached.

Locked token buyout and changes to investor unlock timing

Beyond the fee-switch idea, the Ethena Foundation outlined steps affecting locked ENA held by early participants. The foundation said it had bought locked ENA from certain major seed investors who reduced some holdings during the previous nine months.

In a separate development, the foundation stated it agreed with lead investors to release remaining unvested investor allocations on Oct. 5, replacing the existing monthly unlock schedule. The foundation emphasized that team tokens remain subject to their original vesting schedules.

Importantly, the change described in the update accelerates remaining investor unlocks rather than canceling the tokens. For market watchers, that distinction is notable: faster unlocks can increase near-term supply pressure if demand does not keep pace, even if buyback plans later aim to offset supply effects through repurchases.

Where Ethena’s stablecoin ranks and why it matters for ENA

Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, is listed by DefiLlama as the sixth-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, with roughly $4 billion at the time referenced in the update. A protocol’s stablecoin scale can be consequential because governance proposals and revenue flows are often tied to activity that grows with circulating supply.

In this case, the foundation’s fee-switch vote is explicitly tied to USDe reaching $7.5 billion in circulating supply—meaning the token’s economics are positioned to change as the synthetic dollar expands. Investors should therefore track not only ENA’s price, but also USDe’s growth rate toward the milestone.

Strategic investor interest remains part of the backdrop

Ethena’s ecosystem update comes amid ongoing institutional attention. Earlier coverage cited an investment by M2 Capital, the investment arm of UAE-based M2 Holdings, which put $20 million into ENA as a strategic holding in September 2025 while total value locked neared $15 billion. The conglomerate had previously invested in the Sui Foundation.

While that investment does not determine the outcome of the new vote or the timing of unlocks, it underscores that ENA is being treated as a strategic position by at least some larger investors—precisely the group that is likely to weigh governance and supply-schedule changes closely.

With the fee-switch vote still open until Sept. 2 and the remaining unvested allocation timing now set for Oct. 5, the next key question for ENA holders is whether USDe’s path toward the $7.5 billion milestone keeps pace—while also monitoring how accelerated unlocks might affect supply in the interim.