The native token of the synthetic dollar protocol Ethena (ENA) registered double-digit gains after the Ethena Foundation unveiled four ecosystem changes, including a proposal for revenue-funded token buybacks and a completed buyout of locked tokens held by some early investors.
The Ethena Foundation opened a vote on a fee-switch proposal under which 95% of the net revenue paid to it 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, the foundation said in a Thursday blog post.
Tokenholders have until Sept. 2 to cast their votes. At press time, 65 votes representing about 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% during the past week to trade above $0.17 as of 8:11 am UTC on Friday, according to CoinGecko data.
The foundation also said it had bought locked ENA from certain major seed investors who sold some of their holdings during the past nine months. Separately, it agreed 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.
Ethena’s synthetic dollar, Ethena USDe (USDE), ranks as the sixth-largest stablecoin with a $4 billion market capitalization on DefiLlama.
In September 2025, M2 Capital, the investment arm of UAE-based M2 Holdings, invested $20 million in ENA to make it its latest strategic holding. The conglomerate previously invested in the Sui Foundation.
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