Crypto projects buy back their own tokens for $638 million

Crypto projects have bought back approximately $638 million worth of their own tokens this year, according to figures from Allium Labs published by the Financial Times. That is more than the $545 million spent over the same period last year. Hyperliquid and Pump.fun completely dominate the picture: together they account for nearly 90% of all buybacks. Financial Times reports.

In short:

• Crypto projects bought back $638 million worth of their own tokens this year, up from last year.
• Hyperliquid is the biggest buyer, having burned $1.3 billion worth of HYPE tokens since its launch in December 2024.
• Pump.fun, Chainlink, Sky and Jupiter are also buying back their own tokens, but on a much smaller scale.

Hyperliquid tops the list by a wide margin

Hyperliquid is far and away the leader. The platform uses 99% of its trading fees to buy back its own HYPE token. Since its launch in December 2024, it has bought back and burned $1.3 billion worth of tokens. HYPE is trading at around $82 at the time of writing, down 1.9% over the past 24 hours.

The project is meanwhile also working on further development of the platform. For example, Hyperliquid is making HIP-4 open to everyone in a next upgrade. Pump.fun sits in second place with a buyback amount of nearly $200 million.

Other projects follow at a distance

Beyond the two frontrunners, Chainlink, Sky and Jupiter are also buying back their own tokens, but on a considerably smaller scale. Sky Protocol has so far spent $26 million on buybacks. Lido has announced buybacks but is postponing them until it meets certain conditions, including annual revenue of at least $40 million.

Token buybacks in the crypto sector are comparable to share buybacks at traditional listed companies. By removing tokens from circulation, supply declines, which can have an upward effect on the price if demand remains steady or rises. Whether this effect actually materialises in practice depends heavily on market conditions.