Ethena Foundation plans ENA buybacks contingent on USDe supply nearly doubling to $7.5 billion

Ethena’s foundation just dangled a carrot in front of ENA holders: automated buybacks funded by nearly all of the protocol’s net revenue. The catch is that USDe, Ethena’s synthetic dollar, needs to roughly double its circulating supply first. The proposal, put to a governance vote that closes September 2, would activate a “fee switch” once USDe reaches $7.5 billion in circulation. At that point, 95% of net revenue from Ethena’s operations would flow into automated ENA purchases on the open market. Current USDe supply sits somewhere around $4 billion to $4.6 billion, meaning the trigger requires approximately 85% growth from where things stand today. Markets responded before the ink was dry. ENA surged roughly 16-23% intraday to around $0.17, capping off a broader rally that saw the token climb more than 70% over the preceding week. The full restructuring package The buyback proposal is the flashiest piece, but it sits inside a larger restructuring effort the Foundation unveiled on August 27. The package addresses three distinct pressure points that have weighed on ENA’s price trajectory. First, the Foundation is conducting OTC buyouts of locked ENA from seed investors who hold allo...