Orca DAO proposes acquisition and treasury overhaul as ORCA token surges 84%

Orca, a decentralized exchange built on Solana, wants to go shopping. Its DAO has put forward a proposal to acquire an undisclosed Solana DeFi protocol to expand its credit and yield products.

The market did not wait for the community debate to settle: $ORCA climbed 84% as the plan circulated, according to SolanaFloor.

What the proposal actually does

The proposal is titled “Resourcing Orca for Its Next Phase.” It was posted on September 29, 2026, after the Governance Council endorsed it unanimously on September 24.

Voting closes on October 10, 2026. Until then, everything below is a plan, not a done deal.

The first major change is how protocol fees get split. Under the proposal, 10% would go to xORCA staking rewards and 10% to buybacks managed by the team. The remaining 80% would be directed to operations.

The second change involves the treasury. The plan would move approximately 14.2 million ORCA tokens, roughly 19.8% of total supply, out of the community treasury. About 70,000 SOL would go with them. Both would land in a new Strategic Account controlled by the team and restricted to acquisitions only.

The third change is structural. The proposal calls for dissolving the current Governance Council, the same body that just signed off on it.

The acquisition pitch

The centerpiece is the strategic purchase of an unnamed leading Solana DeFi protocol. The proposal frames the deal as a way to add credit and yield products to Orca’s lineup.

The acquisition is anticipated to contribute to roughly a 50% increase in Orca’s Total Value Locked, or TVL.

Investors are being asked to price in an acquisition they cannot yet evaluate, as the target has not been named.

Why the community is pushing back

Criticism has centered on two points. The first is reduced staking rewards, since xORCA stakers would receive only 10% of fees under the new split. The second is concentrated power. Moving a large slice of the treasury into a team-controlled account, while also dissolving the Governance Council, shifts influence away from token holders and toward the team.

The proposal does include safeguards against excessive token issuance, addressing concerns about dilution through new minting, though it does not directly resolve concerns about who decides how existing assets get spent.

The market’s verdict, so far

SolanaFloor reported an 84% jump in $ORCA following the proposal. Separate research tracking the move put the gain at more than 80% in the week leading up to October 7, 2026. Recent trading has ranged from roughly $2.90 to roughly $3.15.

What this means

For ORCA holders, the trade-off is direct. They would receive a smaller share of fee revenue through staking today in exchange for a bet that the team can deploy capital to grow the protocol tomorrow. Team-managed buybacks run on the team’s discretion rather than a fixed community-controlled schedule.

The key date to watch is October 10, 2026, when voting closes. After that, attention shifts to the identity of the target protocol, whether the promised credit and yield products arrive, and whether TVL moves anywhere near the projected 50% increase.