Since the start of 2026, cryptocurrency projects have set a new record by spending $638 million on repurchasing their own tokens. According to the Financial Times, nearly 90% of this total was driven by Hyperliquid and Pump.fun, based on data from Allium Labs.
This analysis covers the period up to August 25. For comparison, during the same months in 2025, the total buyback was $545 million, while in 2024, it was a mere $366,000.
Hyperliquid accounted for approximately $370 million, or 58% of the overall figure. The protocol's built-in Assistance Fund automatically allocates incoming trading fees to buy HYPE tokens. As per the platform documentation, the tokens acquired are burned, permanently reducing both the total and circulating supply.
Pump.fun contributed nearly $200 million, roughly 31% of the total. Up until the end of April, the platform had been using all its revenue for about nine months to purchase PUMP tokens.
On April 28, the team modified the mechanism: now about 50% of the revenue is programmatically reserved for token buybacks and burning over the course of a year, while the remaining half is allocated for business development.
Simultaneously, Pump.fun burned all PUMP tokens acquired under the previous program, valued at around $370 million at that time, corresponding to about 36% of the circulating supply.
This figure cannot be directly compared to the nearly $200 million reported by Allium for 2026, as the April burn included tokens that Pump.fun had purchased over approximately nine months, which also encompasses the 2025 period.
Additionally, the Financial Times cites aggregated data from Allium Labs. It remains unclear whether the reported buybacks only reflect purchases on the open market or also include separate burn operations and treasury reserves.
Elton Shekhdua, head of research at Allium Labs, noted that while buybacks can reduce circulating supply and create additional demand, they do not inherently guarantee an increase in token value.
The Financial Times also mentions Chainlink and Jupiter as examples of projects whose tokens have depreciated despite their own buyback programs.
It is worth recalling that on August 13, Bitwise's CIO Matt Hougan pointed out that beyond Bitcoin, investors are increasingly focusing on protocol revenues, with some projects already returning income to token holders through buybacks and burns.