Ethena (ENA) Rallies 23% Following Foundation’s Strategic Buyback of Early Investor Tokens

Key Highlights

• ENA’s price climbed 23% within 24 hours, reaching approximately $0.16–$0.17, with a 100% gain over the previous week
• The Ethena Foundation acquired locked tokens from early seed investors who had previously sold ENA during the past nine months
• The scheduled monthly venture capital unlock mechanism has been eliminated to reduce future market sell pressure
• A governance proposal is currently active to implement protocol revenue-based ENA token buybacks
• USDe achieved over $320 million in circulation on Robinhood Chain in just 8 weeks, representing 42% of the network’s total stablecoin liquidity

The ENA token from Ethena experienced a substantial 23% price increase on Thursday following the Ethena Foundation’s announcement of significant changes to its token structure. This surge coincided with a general uptrend in cryptocurrency markets, where Bitcoin climbed past the $80,000 threshold.

Ethena (ENA) Price

At press time, ENA was exchanging hands between $0.16 and $0.17. The digital asset has experienced a remarkable 100% price appreciation within slightly more than seven days.

The Foundation revealed it had purchased all locked token allocations from specific major seed investors who had been selling ENA throughout the previous nine months. These transactions targeted investors controlling over 0.25% of the total token allocation. All purchases were executed through over-the-counter arrangements during the preceding two-week period.

This strategic buyout addresses a persistent issue regarding monthly investor token unlocks that have historically created downward price pressure on ENA. By eliminating this systematic token release schedule, the Foundation seeks to substantially decrease the monthly supply entering circulation.

Core team token allocations remain unchanged. These tokens continue under their existing vesting arrangements without modification.

Protocol Revenue Buyback Mechanism Proposed

A new governance initiative is currently undergoing voting that would implement a “fee switch” mechanism. This proposal outlines using net revenue generated from all Ethena-branded business operations to systematically repurchase ENA tokens from the open market.

The buyback program would intensify as USDe’s total circulation reaches predetermined thresholds. When USDe circulation achieves $7.5 billion, the protocol would allocate 95% of net revenue toward ENA token acquisitions, while reserving 5% for ecosystem development initiatives.

Additionally, the Ethena Foundation and Ethena Labs have agreed in principle to a Master Framework Agreement. This arrangement would transfer virtually all intellectual property rights and economic value generated by the Ethena protocol to the Foundation and token holders, rather than equity stakeholders in the Labs entity. Full agreement details are scheduled for public release in October.

USDe Adoption Accelerates on Robinhood Chain

According to analyst Mesh, as reported by crypto intelligence platform Wu Blockchain, USDe’s rapid expansion on Robinhood Chain resulted from strategic infrastructure decisions and Steakhouse Financial’s selection of Ethena as the principal collateral provider for Robinhood Earn. Data indicates that approximately 62–65% of capital within the Steakhouse USDG Vault migrated into the USDe/USDG Morpho lending market.

Within only eight weeks of deployment, USDe has accumulated over $320 million in total value on Robinhood Chain, currently comprising 42% of all stablecoin supply on the network, based on Token Terminal analytics.

Notwithstanding this week’s impressive performance, ENA still trades more than 15% below its value at the beginning of the year. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) recently incorporated Ethena into its single-asset cryptocurrency benchmark indices earlier this week.

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