ENA Prices Soar on Standard Chartered Bullish Coverage and Buybacks

ENA, the token of Ethena's protocol, has seen a 3.30% surge in price over the last 32 hours. This move is part of a larger repricing driven by several recent catalysts, including Standard Chartered's bullish coverage and Ethena's new buyback-linked fee switch.

Standard Chartered initiated research coverage on ENA with a $2 year-end-2028 price target, implying 7-9 times upside from the spot price. This coverage validates ENA as an institutionally 'coverable' asset, attracting new capital. The bank's thesis emphasizes Ethena's decision to direct 95% of net protocol revenue toward ENA buybacks once certain USDe supply thresholds are hit, reinforcing a narrative of ENA as a scarce claim on growing protocol cash flows.

The fee switch proposal, approved by Ethena governance, routes a rising share of protocol revenue into open-market ENA buybacks as USDe supply grows. When the 14-day average USDe supply crosses $7.5 billion, the first tier activates, with about 5% of gross protocol revenue funding ENA buybacks. At higher USDe levels, the protocol increases that share to 10%, 15%, and 20% of gross revenue.