Ethena’s Foundation has bought out locked ENA holdings from certain early investors who had been selling tokens, eliminating a recurring source of supply pressure as the protocol considers revenue-funded buybacks.

ENA rose roughly 10% to 11% after the announcement, extending a sharp monthly gain. The market reaction reflected both the removal of potential unlock-related selling and the possibility of a new mechanism that could direct protocol-linked revenue toward token purchases.

Foundation Buys Locked Tokens From Selling Seed Investors

The Foundation said it spent the previous two weeks acquiring locked ENA from major seed investors that sold tokens after the October 2025 market peak. Each of those investors had originally received allocations of more than 0.25% of total supply.

We are excited to announce four updates regarding the Ethena ecosystem, further details on each point are provided in the blog linked below: 1. Buyout of early investors: The Ethena Foundation executed a buyout of all locked tokens from certain major seed investors that sold any… — Ethena Foundation (@EthenaFndtn) August 27, 2026

We are excited to announce four updates regarding the Ethena ecosystem, further details on each point are provided in the blog linked below: 1. Buyout of early investors: The Ethena Foundation executed a buyout of all locked tokens from certain major seed investors that sold any…

As a result, those investors no longer hold unvested ENA that could later enter the market. Investors who had not sold were offered a full-price purchase, but none accepted, according to the ecosystem update.

The remaining investor unlocks are scheduled to finish on Oct. 5, after which the monthly investor unlock calendar is expected to end. Team, ecosystem and Foundation holdings remain subject to their existing lockup schedules, while a separate treasury holder still retains a substantial ENA position outside the buyout arrangement.

Buyback Vote Depends on USDe Reaching $7.5 Billion

Tokenholders are voting through Sept. 2 on a fee-switch proposal that would use 95% of net protocol revenue paid to the Foundation for ENA buybacks. The proposal would not activate immediately. It would only take effect if USDe’s circulating supply reaches $7.5 billion, making the vote a conditional change to how protocol revenue could be allocated rather than an automatic shift in token economics.

USDe was reported near $4.6 billion, leaving the synthetic dollar protocol well below that threshold after falling from its 2025 peak. That means the plan is a prospective demand mechanism rather than a near-term guarantee of recurring buybacks.

Extending USDe backing: basis on equity perpetuals. Equity perpetuals now carry nearly >$6bn of open interest across 200 contracts on the same venues Ethena already executes, growing >10x since March. Funding rates on equity perpetuals have paid 15-20% on average, >5x the… pic.twitter.com/IJj4saRuwm — Ethena (@ethena) August 28, 2026

Extending USDe backing: basis on equity perpetuals. Equity perpetuals now carry nearly >$6bn of open interest across 200 contracts on the same venues Ethena already executes, growing >10x since March. Funding rates on equity perpetuals have paid 15-20% on average, >5x the… pic.twitter.com/IJj4saRuwm

The Foundation said any buybacks, if activated, would be reported through its public transparency dashboard.

It also outlined plans to assign protocol intellectual property and residual value to ENA holders under a framework expected in October. In the same update, the Foundation said equity investors in Ethena Labs do not receive protocol revenue.

The immediate development is the removal of a known group of potential sellers. With the investor unlock window nearing its end and the buyback proposal still tied to a higher USDe supply threshold, ENA holders are now looking at the vote and the protocol’s next supply updates as the main near-term milestones.