Since the beginning of 2026, the crypto industry has demonstrated unprecedented activity in token buybacks: the total volume of operations has reached $638 million. This is a record figure, nearly double the results of 2024 ($366 million) and significantly ahead of the same period in 2025 ($545 million). However, the key feature of this trend is its extreme concentration: more than 87% of all funds come from just two protocols — Hyperliquid and Pump.fun.
Hyperliquid: Automation as a Driver
Hyperliquid has accounted for the lion's share of buybacks — about $370 million, which is 58% of the total volume. The mechanism is simple and elegant: the built-in Assistance Fund automatically directs trading fees toward purchasing the native token HYPE. According to the platform's documentation, these assets are immediately burned, irreversibly reducing both the total and circulating supply. This creates sustained deflationary pressure, which the market perceives as a signal of long-term value.
Pump.fun: Strategy Evolution
Pump.fun, in turn, has contributed about $200 million (31% of the total volume). Until the end of April, the platform directed all of its revenue to PUMP buybacks for nine months. However, on April 28, the team revised its approach: now 50% of income is programmatically reserved for buybacks and burns over the course of a year, while the other half goes toward business development. Notably, as part of the transition, the company burned all previously purchased tokens — their value was estimated at $370 million, which corresponded to 36% of the circulating supply.
It is important to emphasize that these figures cannot be directly compared with Allium Labs data for 2026. The April burn included tokens accumulated over nine months, partially attributable to 2025. Additionally, the aggregated statistics do not disclose whether only open market purchases were considered or also operations with treasury reserves.
Analytical Perspective
Head of Research at Allium Labs, Elton Shehduła, rightly notes: a buyback can reduce supply and stimulate demand, but it is not a guarantee of price growth. The examples of Chainlink and Jupiter, whose tokens depreciated despite buyback programs, serve as confirmation of this. In this context, it is telling that on August 13, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan emphasized the growing role of tokenomics: investors are increasingly evaluating protocols by their ability to generate and return income to holders.
My comment: The market is clearly moving toward a model where a token is not just a speculative asset, but a tool for profit distribution. However, the success of such programs depends on the sustainability of the protocol's business model. Hyperliquid and Pump.fun show that automation and transparency of buyback mechanisms can become a powerful signal of trust, but without real fundamental value, this is only temporary price support.