Key Highlights
- Ethena Foundation announced four major updates covering investor token buyouts, accelerated ENA unlocks, protocol value ownership, and token buybacks.
- The foundation purchased locked ENA from certain major seed investors who had sold tokens within the previous nine months, removing their remaining unvested tokens from future market supply.
- Remaining original investor unlocks will be accelerated from October 5, 2026, leaving no investor tokens subject to lockup, while team tokens will continue under their existing vesting schedules.
The Ethena Foundation, an independent governing body and steward for the Ethena protocol, has announced four updates on August 27 addressing concerns related to early investor token unlocks and the allocation of value generated by the protocol. The foundation said the measures respond to questions that have arisen since the project’s launch.
According to the official announcement, the updates cover a buyout of certain locked tokens, the elimination of remaining monthly investor unlock schedules, an agreement in principle on intellectual property and value ownership, and a governance proposal to direct protocol revenue toward token buybacks.
Investor Token Buyout
The Ethena Foundation executed OTC purchases of locked tokens from certain major seed investors over the past two weeks. The transactions targeted investors originally allocated more than 0.25 percent of the total ENA token supply who had sold any ENA within the previous nine months.
Investors were divided into two groups based on activity after the market peak on October 10, 2025. The foundation purchased all unvested tokens from those who sold following that date, with the exception of one address that declined the offer. Investors who had not sold any tokens after the peak were offered repurchase at par with no discount; none accepted.
As a result of the transactions, the investors who sold during the relevant period no longer hold unvested ENA that could enter the market through future unlocks.
Token Unlock Schedule Changes
Effective October 5, 2026, remaining original investor unlocks have been accelerated. No investor tokens remain subject to lockup. Team tokens continue under their original vesting schedules. Post-transaction, approximately 12 percent of locked unvested tokens relate to team, ecosystem and foundation holdings.
StablecoinX remains one of the largest holders of ENA, with approximately 20 percent of total supply held under the lockup schedule disclosed in its SEC filings.
Master Framework Agreement
Ethena Labs and the Ethena Foundation reached agreement in principle on a Master Framework Agreement. Under the terms, substantially all material Ethena Protocol intellectual property would be assigned or exclusively licensed to the Ethena Foundation and its ecosystem rather than to equity holders of Ethena Labs.
Economic upside, any potential future sale of the underlying business, residual profit and entrepreneurial benefit associated with the protocol would accrue to the Foundation and ecosystem. Equity holders of Ethena Labs would receive no residual cash flow or profit from the protocol.
The foundation stated that equity holders of Ethena Labs have not previously received any protocol revenues through distributions or dividends. All protocol revenue has been directed to the Foundation and ecosystem. The Master Framework Agreement is expected to be published in October 2026.
Fee Switch Governance Proposal
A governance vote is now live on a proposal to implement fee switch parameters previously approved by the Ethena Risk Committee. Under the proposed schedule, 95 percent of net revenue accrued across all business lines under the Ethena brand would be used to programmatically buy back the ENA token.
The share of revenue directed to buybacks would increase at successive USDe circulating supply milestones. The parameters are structured around growth targets for USDe supply.
The president of Ava Labs reacted to the announcement and wrote on X that, “ There’s still a lot of work to do, but this is the kind of progress that makes me excited to be building Avalanche.”
Prior Institutional Integration
In June, Ethena announced a collaboration with BlackRock that integrated the USDe synthetic dollar into BlackRock’s Aladdin platform. Aladdin supports more than $20 trillion in assets under management across financial institutions. The integration provided institutions with access to USDe within the existing portfolio management and risk analytics system.
The Ethena Foundation said the current measures are intended to address specific points of uncertainty regarding token supply dynamics and value allocation.
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