Lido DAO has introduced a proposal to conduct a one-off $20 million buyback of its governance token, LDO, in an effort to address what it described as historically depressed price levels relative to Ether. The proposal seeks approval to swap up to 10,000 Lido Staked Ether (stETH), currently valued at about $20 million, from the treasury to purchase LDO tokens. The DAO argued that the current valuation represents one of the largest price dislocations in the token’s history.
LDO Price Decline Contrasts With Strong Protocol Position
The LDO token is currently trading near $0.30, representing a decline of about 95.9% from its all-time high of $7.30 recorded in August 2021. Its market capitalization stands near $255 million, ranking it among mid-tier digital assets by value. Lido DAO highlighted that LDO is trading at a ratio of 0.00016 relative to Ether, roughly 63% below its two-year median, despite
the protocol maintaining a dominant position in the Ethereum liquid staking market.
Data indicates Lido controls approximately 23.2% of all staked Ether, reinforcing its leadership in the sector even as concerns about network centralization have been raised in previous years. The DAO stated that the decline in token price does not reflect a proportional drop in the protocol’s performance or usage.
Batch-Based Buyback Strategy and Revenue Trends
Under the proposal, the buyback would be executed in smaller batches of 1,000 stETH at a time, using limit orders or a dollar-cost averaging approach to reduce market volatility. Each batch would require approval from tokenholders, and performance results would be reported before continuing further purchases.
The proposal also follows a decline in revenue, with Lido reporting a 23% drop to $40.5 million in 2025, mainly due to reduced staking fees, which also fell 23% to $37.4 million. Despite this decline, the DAO noted that staking rewards fell only 20% during the broader market slowdown, operational costs improved by 13% compared with 2024, and the protocol’s take rate increased from 5% to more than 6.1%, improving overall fee capture efficiency.
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