Ethereums [$ETH] Leading staking platform Lido has proposed a ‘one-off’ plan to buy back around 8.5% of its shares. $LDO circulating supply.
The proposal calls for financing the buyback with 10,000 stETH from the Lido DAO treasury. At current prices of $2,000-$2,100 per stETH, this equates to approximately $20-$21 million.
Because it is a one-time plan, if approved, it would purchase $70 million $LDO tokens, or about 8.5% of the circulating supply.
Why Lido is optimistic about its token
On the reason behind the move, the protocol said:
$LDO is trading at historically low levels compared to $ETHa 70% reduction that characterized most of the previous two years.
It quoted the $LDO/$ETH relationship that follows $LDO price performance compared to $ETH. The ratio has reached a new low in 2026, which means $LDO continues to underperform $ETH in a series of two years.
The protocol added:
This is not a routine fluctuation. It represents one of the most important dislocations between $LDO‘s market price and the underlying protocol fundamentals throughout the token’s history.
According to Lido that is so exude dominance and improved operations over the past two years do not reflect this $LDOperformance over the same period. The altcoin has fallen 97% from its 2024 high of $3.7 to its current low of $0.30.
If approved, the buyback will occur in batches of 1K sETH across liquid venues (Cow Swap, 1inch, Uniswap, Binance, etc.) to avoid slippage.
However, this is a separate proposal from the automatic annual one A $10 million long-term plan for $LDO buyback, which was launched last year. The long-term design, which will be formalized in the second quarter of 2026, aims to activate $LDO buyback with half of additional protocol revenue above $40 million, and if $ETH is trading above $3000.
Collectively, these plans suggested that the DeFi platform was bullish on its native token. But the altcoin’s recovery will require more convincing from the whales.
Since the October crash, whale portfolios have held 10 to 100 million and 100 million to 1 billion $LDO have unloaded almost 80 million tokens. Unless they regain confidence in the altcoin, its decline could continue.
Final summary
- Lido has plans to deploy 10,000 stETH to fund the $LDO buyback program.
- The number of whales in the altcoin has decreased, by almost 80 million $LDO unloaded in recent months.