• Lido’s Ecosystem Operations group proposed spending as much as 10,000 stETH from the DAO treasury to repurchase LDO governance tokens, concentrating on roughly 8% of the token’s circulating provide.
  • LDO was buying and selling at roughly $0.27 on March 27, 2026, close to its all-time low of $0.2714 set March 8, after underperforming ETH by roughly 70% over two years.
  • The proposal nonetheless requires a DAO vote, and Lido faces structural headwinds: protocol income fell 23% in 2025 and ETH staking market share declined from over 28% to 23%

Lido is contemplating a big one-time intervention to help its governance token, with the protocol’s Ecosystem Operations group proposing the usage of as much as 10,000 stETH from treasury reserves to purchase again LDO on the open market. 

At present costs, that may equal about US$20 million (AU$29 million) and will take away roughly 65 million LDO from circulation, or about 8% of the present provide.

The proposal frames the transfer as an distinctive response slightly than routine treasury administration. 

In keeping with the group, LDO’s market value has diverged from the protocol’s underlying place extra sharply than at another level in its historical past. 

The buyback could be carried out in 1,000 stETH increments throughout CoW Swap, Uniswap, Binance and OKX, with Lido’s Development Committee authorised to execute the trades alongside market-making companions. The funds would come solely from stETH already held in treasury, with no new token issuance.

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Plunging Income

The buyback proposal comes at the same time as Lido stays the biggest liquid staking protocol on Ethereum (ETH), controlling about 23% of all staked ETH. That share remains to be dominant, however it’s down from greater than 28% in 2024, reflecting stronger competitors from exchanges, custody suppliers and restaking merchandise.

Financially, the protocol additionally weakened final yr. Income fell 23% to US$40.5 million (AU$59 million) in 2025 from US$52.4 million (AU$76 million) in 2024. Staking payment income declined to US$37.4 million (AU$54 million), whereas gross staking rewards dropped 18% to US$846.7 million (AU$1.23 billion). 

The proposed treasury motion is separate from Lido’s NEST buyback system, which stays inactive as a result of market and income circumstances haven’t but been met. No vote date has been set.

LDO Nears All-Time Low

The backdrop is an extended decline in LDO relative to Ethereum. On March 27, the token traded round US$0.27 (AU$0.39), solely marginally above its all-time low of US$0.2714 (AU$0.39) reached on March 8. 

Lido’s governance dialogue described the token as buying and selling at a few 70% low cost to the ETH-denominated ranges that had been widespread over a lot of the previous two years. 

Promoting by giant holders added to the strain, with wallets holding between 10 million and 1 billion LDO unloading about 80 million tokens between October 2025 and early 2026. That left the token with a market worth of roughly US$260 million (AU$377 million).

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