Ethena's ENA (ENA) Buyback Vote Draws 17.8M Tokens in Favor, Zero Against

Fee-Switch Proposal Terms

Ethena's fee-switch proposal — the mechanism that would route a share of protocol revenue into ENA buybacks — enters its final voting hours on Tuesday, and the on-chain tally so far is unanimous. Governance token voting records on Snapshot show 17.8 million ENA in favor and zero against, spread across 87 individual votes, with the ballot scheduled to close at 13:59 UTC on Sept. 2. The proposal, published by the Ethena Foundation late last week, immediately repriced the asset: Ethena (ENA) climbed as much as 27% over the two sessions that followed and still trades roughly 77% higher across the past 30 days, changing hands near $0.158 per CoinGecko market tracking. The terms are built as a staircase tied to the size of USDe, the protocol's synthetic dollar. The take rate — the slice of protocol revenue directed into buybacks — starts at 5% once USDe circulating supply reaches $7.5 billion, then scales to 25% at $25 billion. By the proposal's own illustrative math, the first milestone implies roughly $22.5 million a year of buying; at $20 billion of supply, about $240 million. The widely circulated 95% figure refers to the share of the Foundation's revenue take that purchases ENA once that first threshold is crossed, although the governance post describes the take rate in two ways that never fully reconcile. USDe currently stands at $4.22 billion in circulation per DefiLlama stablecoin data — meaning the buying stays dormant until supply grows 78% from here. The asset earns its yield through the basis trade: holding an asset while shorting its perpetual futures contract to collect the funding that longs pay. The vote caps a year of structural rewrites at the Foundation, which earlier moved to end monthly VC unlocks as part of a broader overhaul of ENA tokenomics.

A Record $638M Buyback Year

The vote lands amid a broader industry repricing of how crypto projects return value. Sector-wide spending on token buybacks reached $638 million in 2026 through Aug. 31 — a record, up from $545 million over the same stretch last year, and a dramatic jump from just $366,000 across all of 2024. The distribution is strikingly narrow: perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid accounts for roughly $370 million of the total and memecoin launchpad Pump.fun close to $200 million, meaning two projects absorb nearly 90% of the spend. Supply analytics tracking 27 tokens shows why raw buyback headlines can mislead: once scheduled unlocks are factored in, only BNB and RAY have achieved genuine net deflation. HYPE's supply is still expanding at roughly 47% annualized even as its repurchase program runs, PUMP grows 14% a year, and KAITO's buybacks are paused against supply growth approaching 100%. The market has nonetheless rewarded fee-backed tokens — HYPE is up 145% in 2026 and PUMP 109%, against an 11.9% decline in total crypto market capitalization. For Ethena, the tension is sharper because the revenue meant to fund its plan is shrinking. Protocol fees totaled $300 million over the past year, but the last 30 days generated $15.94 million — an annualized run rate below $200 million. USDe's circulating base has fallen from close to $15 billion at its October 2025 peak to $4.22 billion, as the funding-rate yields that attract deposits compress when markets cool. ENA's spot price slipped 6.0% over the past 24 hours, a reminder that the proposal-driven repricing has cooled. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bitget.

Unanimous Vote, Dormant Buying

Our reading of the vote record: 17.8 million ENA in favor, zero against and 87 participating votes is less a contested mandate than a formality — no holder has much incentive to oppose a buyback that costs nothing today. The proposal's significance sits in its conditions rather than its execution. The milestone table makes buying a function of USDe supply, and USDe's growth is a function of funding-rate revenue, which is currently compressing. ENA's 27% two-day rally priced in activation; the $4.22 billion supply base and the Sept. 2 13:59 UTC close mark what has actually been decided.