Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Ethena’s ENA token gained 23% in 24 hours to trade around $0.16.
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The Ethena Foundation is eliminating monthly investor unlocks to reduce persistent selling pressure.
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ENA holders are considering a fee-switch proposal that could direct 95% of net revenue toward token buybacks.
Ethena’s native token, ENA, surged Thursday after the protocol's foundation announced a major restructuring of its token economics.
I was recently having a conversation with a group of veteran investors about how there must be an underlying social substrate that has led to the boom in everything from Pokemon cards to premium whiskey to real-estate to AI stocks.
— Omid Malekan (@malekanoms) August 27, 2026
In my mind, it's a collective loss of faith in…
The overhaul seeks to address two longstanding concerns surrounding ENA: selling pressure created by early-investor token unlocks and uncertainty over how Ethena’s economic value benefits tokenholders.
The plan eliminates the monthly venture-capital unlock schedule, introduces a proposed revenue-funded buyback program, and establishes a clearer separation between ENA holders and Ethena Labs shareholders.
ENA gained 23% over the past 24 hours to reach approximately $0.17. The token has more than doubled in slightly over a week amid a broader cryptocurrency market rally.
Ethena Eliminates Monthly Investor Unlocks
The Ethena Foundation said it had purchased the remaining locked tokens belonging to certain large seed investors who had sold ENA over the previous nine months.
It will also accelerate the remaining unlocks allocated to original investors, bringing the monthly release of venture-capital tokens to an end. Tokens allocated to team members will remain subject to their existing vesting schedules.
The move is intended to reduce the supply overhang created by predictable monthly unlocks, which can weigh on a token’s price when investors anticipate additional selling.
Fee-Switch Proposal Could Fund ENA Buybacks
ENA holders are also voting on a fee-switch proposal designed to generate recurring demand for the token.
Under the proposal, buybacks would expand as the circulating supply of Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, reaches predetermined milestones.
Once USDe supply reaches the first threshold of $7.5 billion, 95% of net revenue generated by Ethena-branded businesses would be used for programmatic ENA purchases. The remaining 5% would fund ecosystem growth.
The mechanism would create a more direct connection between Ethena’s commercial performance and demand for its native token.
Ethena Labs and the Ethena Foundation are also formalizing ownership of the protocol’s intellectual property and future economic benefits.
Under an agreement in principle, substantially all material intellectual property and economic upside associated with the Ethena protocol would belong to the foundation and its ecosystem rather than Ethena Labs shareholders.
The agreement is expected to be published in October. Its implementation could clarify how value generated by Ethena accrues to the protocol and ENA holders instead of private equity investors.
USDe Supply Falls from Nearly $15 Billion
The tokenomics overhaul follows a steep contraction in USDe’s circulation. USDe supply has dropped below $5 billion after reaching a peak of nearly $15 billion in October during the previous cryptocurrency market rally.
Ethena generates part of USDe’s yield through derivatives funding rates. Those returns declined as the crypto market cooled and demand for leveraged bullish positions weakened.
Reviving USDe adoption will therefore be crucial to the proposed buyback mechanism, given that the revenue allocation begins only after its circulating supply reaches $7.5 billion.
Ethena has been searching for additional ways to generate yield and expand USDe beyond its reliance on crypto derivatives markets.
The protocol recently announced a $1 billion facility with FalconX. The arrangement allows assets backing USDe to be deployed into overcollateralized institutional loans.
Ethena has also secured partnerships with major financial and cryptocurrency companies. Janus Henderson invested in ENA in June and is exploring opportunities to distribute USDe.
Meanwhile, Coinbase launched a savings product with Ethena, while its venture-capital division acquired ENA tokens.
These initiatives could help Ethena broaden demand for USDe, restore its circulating supply and generate the revenue required to support recurring ENA buybacks.
