Crypto projects have spent a record $638 million on buybacks to repurchase their own tokens this year. This was reported by the Financial Times, citing data from blockchain analytics firm Allium Labs. It is a 17% increase compared to the same period last year and a massive growth, especially considering that the total buyback volume in 2024 was previously only a few hundred thousand dollars.

Interestingly, nearly 90% of this funding came from just two sources: Hyperliquid, which uses most of its fee revenue for buybacks, and Pump.fun, which allocates half of its protocol net revenue. They spent $370 million and $200 million respectively on token repurchases. Thanks to this, Hyperliquid (HYPE) surged 145% and Pump.fun (PUMP) jumped 109% this year, showing unmatched resilience even in a bear market. Recently, Ethena also caused a stir in the community by proposing to use most of its revenue for buybacks.

However, buybacks aren't always the answer. Jupiter spent about $14 million on buybacks, yet its token price halved this year, and Chainlink also saw a significant price drop despite conducting buybacks. Ultimately, this suggests that buybacks act merely as an amplifier for projects with strong fundamentals, rather than a universal cheat code that can overcome massive token unlocks or market sell pressure. It will be worth watching to see if this buyback trend can establish itself as a truly sustainable model.

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