Ethena Foundation Buys Out Early Investors as ENA Nears 100% Rally

Ethena’s native token ENA surged 11% after the Ethena Foundation completed a buyout of locked tokens held by several early seed investors. The transaction coincided with the launch of a governance vote that could enable future token buybacks.

Buyout of Early Investors

The Foundation spent two weeks purchasing locked ENA directly from seed investors who had sold tokens after the October 10 2025 peak. Each investor originally held more than 0.25% of the total ENA supply. Investors who sold after the peak received a buyout offer, while those who never sold were offered a full‑price deal, which none accepted. As a result, those investors now hold no unvested ENA that could be released into the market.

Unlock Schedule Changes

The regular monthly unlock calendar for early investors ends early. All remaining investor tokens are set to unlock on October 5 2026, after which the monthly schedule will be removed. Team tokens remain on their original vesting schedules, keeping roughly 12% of the total supply locked in team, ecosystem, and Foundation holdings.

Buyback Vote and Fee Switch

A Snapshot governance vote, open until September 2, proposes directing protocol revenue toward ENA purchases. The buyback mechanism will activate only when the circulating supply of Ethena’s stablecoin USDe reaches $7.5 billion, at which point 5% of protocol revenue will be used for ENA buybacks. The share could increase to 20% if USDe supply reaches $20 billion. USDe is currently around $4.6 billion, down from a 2025 peak of about $15 billion.

Remaining Large Holders

StablecoinX, an ENA treasury entity, continues to hold approximately 20% of the ENA supply under a separate lockup disclosed in SEC filings. This stake is outside the recent buyout deal.

Market Impact

Following the announcement, ENA traded near $0.155, up 11% in 24 hours, 56.5% over the past week, and 84.6% over the last 30 days, with a market cap around $1.52 billion.

Outlook

The bullish narrative points to the removal of selling pressure from early investors, the end of the unlock calendar in October, and a potential buyback pipeline pending the USDe supply threshold. The bearish view highlights the delayed activation of buybacks, the sizable 20% stake held by StablecoinX, and the need for the Snapshot vote to achieve quorum.