Lido DAO has proposed a significant one-off buyback of its LDO token. The proposal calls for using $20-$21 million worth of stETH from the treasury to purchase about 70 million tokens, representing 8.5% of the circulating supply. The protocol cites LDO’s depressed price relative to Ethereum and its underperformance compared to underlying fundamentals as key reasons for the move. This plan is separate from a previously discussed, longer-term automated buyback strategy.
The leading Ethereum staking platform, Lido, has proposed a one-off treasury-funded buyback of approximately 8.5% of LDO’s circulating supply. The plan would utilize 10,000 stETH, valued between $20 million and $21 million at current prices, to acquire 70 million LDO tokens.
Lido stated the rationale is that LDO is trading at a historically depressed level, a 70% discount relative to ETH that has characterized most of the prior two years. The LDO/ETH ratio has continued to mark new lows through 2026, indicating prolonged underperformance.
“This is not a routine fluctuation,” the protocol stated. “It represents one of the most significant dislocations between LDO’s market price and its underlying protocol fundamentals in the token’s history.” Lido argued its staking dominance and operational improvements are not reflected in LDO’s price, which has fallen 97% from its 2024 high.
If approved, the buyback would be executed in batches across liquid decentralized and centralized exchanges to minimize market impact. This proposal is distinct from an automatic annual buyback plan, which was floated last year and is slated for formalization later in 2026.
That long-term draft aims to activate buybacks using half of any protocol revenue exceeding $40 million, provided ETH trades above $3,000. Despite these bullish signals from the DAO itself, whale wallets holding between 10 million and 1 billion LDO have offloaded nearly 80 million tokens since October. A sustained rebound may require renewed confidence from these large holders.
