ENA, the native token of the synthetic dollar protocol Ethena, posted double-digit gains after the Ethena Foundation announced four ecosystem changes, headlined by a proposal for revenue-funded token buybacks and the completion of a buyout of locked tokens held by some early investors.

According to a Thursday blog post, the Ethena Foundation opened a vote on a fee-switch proposal under which 95% of the net revenue paid to the foundation from Ethena's core business lines would be used to purchase ENA once the circulating supply of USDe reaches the first proposed milestone of $7.5 billion. Fee-switch proposals, which route protocol revenue toward token buybacks or holder distributions, have become a recurring demand-side lever among DeFi protocols seeking to tie token value more directly to protocol earnings; the milestone threshold ties any buyback activity to continued growth in USDe supply rather than starting immediately.

Tokenholders have until Sept. 2 to cast their votes. At press time, 65 votes representing approximately 14.4 million ENA in voting power had been cast, all in favor of the fee-switch proposal, according to Snapshot.

The ENA token rose 10.7% over the 24 hours and gained 27% over the past week, trading above $0.17 as of 8:11 am UTC on Friday, according to CoinGecko data.

The foundation also said it had purchased locked ENA from certain major seed investors who sold some of their holdings over the past nine months. Separately, it reached an agreement with lead investors to release the remaining unvested investor allocations on Oct. 5, replacing the existing monthly unlock schedule. Team tokens will remain subject to their original vesting schedules. The change accelerates the remaining investor unlocks rather than canceling the tokens. A key date to watch is therefore Oct. 5, when the accelerated investor release takes effect, alongside the Sept. 2 governance deadline and the $7.5 billion USDe supply milestone that gates the proposed buybacks.

Ethena's synthetic dollar, Ethena USDe (USDE), ranks as the sixth-largest stablecoin with a $4 billion market capitalization, according to DefiLlama. USDe is a synthetic dollar generated through delta-neutral positions rather than being fully backed by bank deposits like traditional stablecoins, a design that has drawn both adoption and scrutiny during past market stress.

In September 2025, M2 Capital, the investment arm of UAE-based M2 Holdings, invested $20 million in ENA, making it the conglomerate's latest strategic holding. M2 previously invested in the Sui Foundation.

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