ENA jumped 10% as Ethena seeks approval of a revenue-backed repurchase program

ENA tokens rose in response to the Ethena Foundation's announcement of governance and treasury reforms

The price of its native token ENA soared after the Ethena Foundation announced a package of governance and treasury updates aimed at changing the processing of agreement revenue and some investors 'token unlocking plans.

In an ecological update released Thursday, the foundation detailed four adjustments, including a vote on a "fee switch" mechanism that will use most of its net income to buy back ENA once Ethena's synthetic dollar supply (USDe) reaches a specific milestone.

Core Points

The Ethena Foundation has launched a governance vote on a fee switch proposal tied to USDe reaching the $7.5 billion milestone. According to the proposal, after meeting that threshold, 95% of the foundation's net income from Ethena's core business line will be used to purchase ENA. Token holders can vote before September 2; as of press time, Snapshot data shows a total of 65 votes, representing approximately 14.4 million ENA voting rights, and all voted in favor. The foundation also said it had completed the acquisition of locked ENA held by some early investors and agreed to adjust the unlocking time for the remaining investors to October 5.

Fee switch proposal links repurchase to USDe size

The core of the announcement is a governance vote to decide whether to shift Ethena's fee processing to token repurchase. According to the Ethena Foundation's blog post, once USDe's circulation supply reaches the first milestone-US$7.5 billion, the foundation will spend 95% of the net income earned by Ethena's core business line on the purchase of ENA. Voting will continue until September 2. Snapshot data shows that all votes cast so far support the proposal. As of the time of writing this article, a total of 65 votes have been recorded, involving approximately 14.4 million ENA voting rights, and all voted in favor.

For ENA holders, the practical significance is that if the proposal is passed, the repurchase program will effectively convert part of the agreement revenue into continued demand for tokens-although the trigger depends on USDe growth, which means the timing depends on how quickly supply reaches the milestone.

Governance activity accelerates, ENA market responds positively

Market prices reflect expectations for a refocusing of treasury policies. CoinGecko data showed ENA rose 10.7% in 24 hours, rising 27% in the past week, and trading above $0.17 as of 8:11 UTC on Friday. Even regardless of voting results, the governance framework itself is important to traders: repurchase mechanisms are often seen as a direct link between the economy of the agreement and the dynamics of token supply. Here, the foundation's proposal clearly states the use of income after USDe reaches the threshold.

Lock-in token repurchase and investor unlocking time adjustment

In addition to the idea of fee switches, the Ethena Foundation also outlines steps to lock in ENA that affect early participants 'holdings. The foundation said it has purchased lock-in ENA from some major seed-round investors who have reduced some of their holdings in the past nine months. In another development, the foundation said it had reached an agreement with major investors to release the remaining unvested investor allocation quotas on October 5 to replace the existing monthly unlocking plan. The foundation emphasized that team tokens still follow their original ownership schedule.

It is worth noting that the adjustments described in the update accelerate unlocking by remaining investors, rather than canceling tokens. For market observers, this distinction is noteworthy: If demand cannot keep up, faster unlocking could add to near-term supply pressure, even if subsequent repurchase plans are designed to offset the supply impact through buybacks.

Ethena's ranking of stablecoins and its significance to ENA

Ethena's synthetic U.S. dollar USDe is listed as the sixth largest stablecoin by market value by DefiLlama, with a market value of approximately US$4 billion at the time point mentioned in the update. The size of the agreed stablecoin may be significant because governance proposals and revenue streams are often linked to increased activity as the circulation supply grows. In this example, the foundation's fee switch vote is clearly pegged to USDe's circulation supply reaching $7.5 billion-which means the economics of tokens will change as the synthetic dollar expands. Therefore, investors should not only pay attention to the price of ENA, but also the speed at which USDe is growing towards this milestone.

Strategic investor interest remains a background factor.

Ethena's ecological update comes at a time when institutions continue to pay attention. It has been previously reported that M2 Capital, the investment arm of M2 Holdings based in United Arab Emirates, invested US$20 million in ENA as a strategic position in September 2025, when the total locked position value was close to US$15 billion. The group has previously invested in the Sui Foundation. While the investment will not determine the outcome of a new vote or the timing of unlocking, it highlights that ENA is regarded as a strategic position by at least some large investors-precisely those who may be closely watching governance and supply plan adjustments.

With the fee switch vote still in progress (deadline is September 2) and the remaining time for unvested allocations has been determined as October 5, the next key question facing ENA holders is whether USDe can maintain the pace of progress towards the $7.5 billion milestone-while also focusing on how accelerated unlocking may affect supply during this period.