Ethereum’s [ETH] leading staking platform, Lido, has proposed a ‘one-off’ plan to buy back about 8.5% of the LDO circulating supply.
The proposal calls for funding the buyback with 10,000 stETH from the Lido DAO Treasury. At current prices of $2,000–$2,100 per stETH, this equates to roughly $20–$21 million.
Since it’s a one-off plan, if approved, that would buy 70 million LDO tokens, or about 8.5% of the circulating supply.
Why Lido is bullish on its token
On the reason behind the move, the protocol said,
LDO is trading at historically depressed levels relative to ETH, a 70% discount that characterized most of the prior two years.
It cited the LDO/ETH ratio, which tracks LDO price performance relative to ETH. The ratio has marked a new low in 2026, meaning that LDO has continued to underperform ETH in a two-year streak.
The protocol added,
This is not a routine fluctuation. It represents one of the most significant dislocations between LDO’s market price and its underlying protocol fundamentals in the token’s history.
According to Lido, its staking dominance and improved operations in the past two years don’t reflect LDO’s performance over the same period. The altcoin has plunged 97% from its 2024 high of $3.7 to its current low of $0.30.
If approved, the buyback will happen in 1K stETH batches across liquid venues (Cow Swap, 1inch, Uniswap, Binance, etc.) to avoid slippages.
However, this is a separate proposal from the automatic annual $10 million long-term plan for LDO buybacks, which was floated last year. The long-term draft, set to be formalized in Q2 2026, aims to activate LDO buyback using half of the extra protocol revenue above $40M, and if ETH trades above $3000.
Collectively, these plans suggested the DeFi platform was bullish on its native token. But the altcoin’s rebound would need more conviction from whales.
Since the October crash, whale wallets holding 10–100 million and 100 million–1 billion LDO have offloaded nearly 80 million tokens. Unless they regain confidence in the altcoin, its decline could continue.
Final Summary
- Lido has plans to deploy 10K stETH to drive the LDO buyback program.
- Whales’ conviction in the altcoin has declined, with nearly 80 million LDO offloaded in the past few months.
