Ether.fi DAO proposes $50 million ETHFI buyback as DeFi’s repurchase wave tops $1.4 billion

The Ether.fi community has introduced a proposal to allocate up to $50 million from its treasury to repurchase ETHFI tokens when they trade below $3, becoming the latest major DeFi protocol to turn to buybacks as a tool for liquidity and price support.

According to the governance proposal published Thursday, the plan authorizes the Ether.fi Foundation to execute open-market purchases of ETHFI while the spot price remains under $3.

ETHFI was down over 89% from its 2024 high and traded around $0.93 on Oct. 31, putting it within the proposed buyback range, The Block’s price page shows.

Buybacks have emerged as a preferred lever for protocols with strong fee income but subdued secondary-market demand, an approach echoing traditional corporate finance playbooks. However, Ether.fi’s strategy ties the trigger directly to a price threshold rather than fixed time intervals or budget schedules.

The plan would activate immediately upon DAO approval and continue until one of three conditions is met: the $50 million cap is reached, the foundation deems the program complete, or a subsequent governance vote alters or terminates it.

“The Foundation intends to progressively expand buy-back capacity in proportion to protocol revenues, particularly while ETHFI remains below $3, ensuring efficient use of surplus revenue to strengthen market confidence and reduce circulating supply,” the proposal states, emphasizing a link between protocol success and token holder alignment.

The four-day Snapshot vote opened Friday and, if approved, will mark the protocol’s third buyback initiative following prior liquidity-support efforts under Proposals #8 and #10. All transactions will be transparently recorded onchain and reported via the project’s Dune Analytics dashboard, the governance post added.

Ether.fi (ETHFI) is a non-custodial, Ethereum-based liquid restaking and liquid staking protocol that enables users to stake ETH and receive a tradable token. At the same time, their assets generate yield inside and outside the core staking ecosystem.

According to The Block's data, Ether.fi currently has approximately $10 billion in total value locked, and the protocol reports annualized fees of roughly $360 million.

Big picture: $1.4 billion in DeFi buybacks so far in 2025

Ether.fi’s move follows a broader trend of decentralized finance protocols turning to buybacks as a capital-management mechanism amid rising onchain revenues. Earlier in the quarter, The Block Research  reported that Uniswap and Aave drove DeFi protocol revenues back above $600 million, helping fund these new buyback cycles. 

Earlier this month, Aave DAO proposed a $50 million annual token buyback program funded directly by protocol revenues, a plan designed by Aave Chan Initiative founder Marc Zeller to strengthen market depth for the DeFi lender’s native token. NFT marketplace OpenSea has also earmarked 50% of revenue for token buybacks tied to its forthcoming SEA token, expected to launch in Q1 2026. Even World Liberty Financial, the crypto initiative connected to the Trump family, has adopted a buyback-and-burn model, using protocol liquidity fees to retire its governance tokens.

According to a recent CoinGecko study , protocol token buybacks have exceeded $1.4 billion this year, led by projects such as Hyperliquid and Pump.fun, Aave, and Uniswap. The report said the momentum signals the sector’s shift toward “protocol-as-business” models that reinvest revenue to bolster tokenholder value.