Lido’s Ecosystem Operations team has submitted a governance proposal to spend up to 10,000 stETH (approximately $20 million at current ETH prices of ~$2,000) from the DAO treasury to buy back LDO tokens. The move is described as a one-off opportunity to acquire the governance token at what the DAO considers a “historically depressed valuation.”
This $20 million one-off buyback is separate from Lido’s NEST automated buyback program (proposed in November 2025 and still pending).
NEST is a conditional, ongoing mechanism that would only activate when:
NEST would be capped at $10 million annually and would pair bought-back LDO with wstETH in a liquidity pool. The current proposal allows the DAO to act faster and at double the scale while LDO trades at depressed levels.
The proposal reflects confidence from the Lido DAO that the current LDO price significantly undervalues the protocol’s fundamentals and market position. If passed and executed, it could provide immediate price support, improve liquidity, and signal strong belief in Lido’s long-term role as Ethereum’s leading liquid staking solution.
