‘Make tokens great again!’ — ENA hits yearly high after Ethena makes 4 changes 

The Ethena Basis has introduced 4 ecosystem updates that analysts have billed as extraordinarily bullish and lengthy overdue. 

To begin with, the Basis stated it has purchased all of the locked tokens from some main seed traders that had offered ENA within the final 9 months. Moreover, month-to-month VC overhang has ended, scrapping off one main bearish issue for ENA prior to now.

Nevertheless, crew tokens will stay locked as per earlier plans.

The Ethena Basis and lead traders have agreed to get rid of future overhang related to month-to-month VC investor unlocks by releasing unvested tokens.

In 2024, Ethena raised over $180M by promoting 315 million ENA tokens. This got here again as persistent VC overhang till the most recent replace. 

Thirdly, ENA will now be aligned with the ecosystem, with model and mental property (IP) rights assigned to the Basis and ruled by token holders. There shall be no payouts to non-public traders in Ethena Labs (the entity chargeable for constructing the ecosystem merchandise). 

Right here, it’s price noting that the battle over IP possession and income is what triggered the historic Aave governance spat. Nevertheless, Ethena has taken the alternative path to keep away from an Aave-like divisive civil warfare. 

Lastly, the venture has introduced a price change and an ENA buyback proposal utilizing generated income. At present, Ethena’s USDe (yield-generating stablecoin) has a market provide of $4.5B. It has generated solely $1.8M in 2026. 

If the USDe provide crosses $7.5B and annualized income hits $450M, 5% ($22M) of the proceeds will go to ENA buybacks. The buyback program would enhance if ecosystem progress explodes. 

Ethena’s plans get 100% assist

Curiously, the neighborhood has overwhelmingly supported the brand new plans too. The floated proposal, whose voting is ready to finish by 2nd September, had 100% voting in favor of it.

In reality, there have been no ‘abstain’ or ‘towards’ votes as of press time, making it unanimous assist. 

The same place has been echoed throughout social media. Reacting to the replace, Ethena founder Man Younger stated, 

Lengthy overdue. Make tokens nice once more.

For his half, Sam Ruskin, an Funding Affiliate at crypto VC Reciprocal Ventures, projected ENA’s explosive rally and billed the replace as a catalyst. 

Rerate ENA a lot greater. Ethena’s enterprise mannequin has shifted quite a bit within the final 12 months. Bullish on Ethena profitable the collateral layer.

Ethena primarily presents white-label stablecoins and USDe financial savings. Nevertheless, it additional diversified its collateral past crypto to conventional liquid loans to keep away from low yields attributable to bear markets. It has additionally scaled enlargement for USDe, with Coinbase being the most recent distribution companion. 

On Thursday, ENA’s value rallied by 15% on the again of bullish updates. It prolonged the rally by 12% to a yearly excessive of $0.189, earlier than easing barely at press time. It stays to be seen how the income dynamics will drive buybacks and the token’s value greater sooner or later. 

Last Abstract

• Ethena introduced an ENA buyback proposal and an finish to VC provide overhang.
• Its price change and ENA buyback plan have obtained 100% neighborhood assist to date.