Lido Drops $21M on 8.5% LDO Buyback, Whales Still YOLOing Out

Ethereum's leading staking platform, Lido, has proposed a "one-off" plan to buy back roughly 8.5% of the LDO circulating supply. Because when your token's chart looks like a ski slope, why not throw some treasury funds at it? The proposal calls for funding the buyback with 10,000 stETH from the Lido DAO Treasury. At current prices hovering between $2,000–$2,100 per stETH, we're talking about $20–21 million—a pretty substantial "we still believe in this, guys" moment.

If approved, that would buy 70 million LDO tokens, or about 8.5% of the circulating supply. For context, that's like buying a small island, except the island is a governance token and it's currently underwater.

On the reason behind this moves, the protocol noted LDO is trading at historically depressed levels relative to ETH—a 70% discount that characterized most of the prior two years. Imagine buying ETH at a yard sale. That's basically where we are. They cited the LDO/ETH ratio, which tracks LDO price performance relative to ETH. The ratio has marked a new low in 2026, meaning LDO has continued to underperform ETH in a two-year streak that would make a falling knife jealous.

This is not a routine fluctuation, bros. It represents one of the most significant dislocations between LDO's market price and its underlying protocol fundamentals in the token's history. Lido's calling it like it is: the fundamentals are solid, but the price action has been about as exciting as watching paint dry in a bear market. According to Lido, its staking dominance and improved operations over the past two years are doing their own thing, completely ignoring LDO's performance over the same period—like a chef who keeps winning awards while the restaurant burns down.

Speaking of burn, the altcoin has plunged 97% from its 2024 high of $3.70 to its current low of $0.30. At this point, LDO holders are either in profit in their dreams or they're long-term committed. There is no in-between.

If approved, the buyback will happen in 1K stETH