The native token of the synthetic dollar protocol Ethena (ENA) registered double-digit gains following the Ethena Foundation's announcement of four ecosystem changes. The updates include a proposal for revenue-funded token buybacks and the completion of a buyout of locked tokens held by certain early investors.
According to a Thursday blog post from the foundation, a fee-switch proposal was opened for a vote to determine if 95% of the net revenue paid to the foundation from Ethena’s core business lines should be used to purchase ENA. This buyback mechanism would activate once the circulating supply of USDe reaches the first proposed milestone of $7.5 billion.
Tokenholders have until Sept. 2 to cast votes on the proposal. Snapshot data at press time indicated that 65 votes representing approximately 14.4 million ENA in voting power had been cast, with all votes in favor.
CoinGecko data showed that the ENA token rose 10.7% over a 24-hour period and gained 27% over the past week, trading above $0.17 as of 8:11 am UTC on Friday.
In addition to the fee-switch proposal, the foundation reported that it bought locked ENA from major seed investors who had sold portions of their holdings over the past nine months. It also reached an agreement with lead investors to release remaining unvested investor allocations on Oct. 5, replacing the existing monthly unlock schedule while accelerating rather than canceling the tokens. Team tokens remain subject to their original vesting schedules.
Ethena’s synthetic dollar, USDe, currently ranks as the sixth-largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $4 billion, according to DefiLlama. Additionally, M2 Capital invested $20 million in ENA in September 2025 to establish it as a strategic holding.
