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Lido’s token is the only top DeFi token in the green over the past 30 days, fueled by a $20 million treasury repurchase program.<\/p>\n
Top Ethereum liquid staking protocol Lido’s governance token has emerged as a rare bright spot in a battered DeFi sector, gaining 30% over the past 30 days while every other major token slid into the red.<\/p>\n
LDO is trading at $0.42, up 12% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.<\/p>\n The contrast with its DeFi peers is stark. Over the same 30-day window, AAVE fell 7%, Uniswap (UNI) dropped 15%, Curve\u2019s CRV slipped 9%, and Etherfi’s ETHFI shed 16%. MORPHO was the closest to breakeven among top DeFi tokens, losing just 0.5%.<\/p>\n The catalyst behind LDO’s outperformance is a $20 million buyback<\/a> program. The Lido DAO voted to spend up to 10,000 stETH ($23 million) to repurchase LDO tokens from the open market, routing purchases through centralized exchanges and market makers in 1,000 stETH batches due to thin on-chain liquidity. Each batch requires a separate Easy Track governance motion to execute. At current prices, the full program could retire roughly 8% of LDO’s circulating supply, according to the proposal.<\/p>\n The buyback coincides with a broader strategic pivot. In December, the DAO approved a $60 million budget<\/a> to push Lido beyond its core liquid staking business. That plan began taking shape in March when the protocol launched EarnUSD<\/a>, its first stablecoin vault, which allocates USDC and USDT deposits across lending markets, real-world asset integrations and structured positions.<\/p>\n