Hyperliquid and Pump.fun Drive Record $638M in Crypto Token Buybacks in 2026

Crypto projects spent a record $638 million on token buybacks year-to-date in 2026, nearly doubling from $545 million during the same period in 2025, according to Allium Labs data cited by the Financial Times. Decentralized exchange Hyperliquid and memecoin launchpad Pump.fun accounted for nearly 90% of that total, with Hyperliquid contributing roughly $370 million and Pump.fun approximately $200 million.

The buyback model mirrors share repurchases by publicly listed companies, allowing protocols to return value to token holders while supporting token valuations. Hyperliquid directs about 99% of its revenue toward HYPE buybacks, having allocated $141 million of its $169 million in second-quarter revenue to repurchases. Pump.fun, meanwhile, earmarks roughly 50% of its net protocol revenue for token repurchases and currently generates around $420 million in annualized revenue based on trailing 90-day averages.

The strategy appears to be paying off. HYPE has risen 145% year-to-date while PUMP is up 109%, even as Bitcoin fell 10% and total crypto market capitalization declined 11.9% over the same period. The trend is spreading: on Thursday, the Ethena Foundation opened a vote on a fee-switch proposal that would direct 95% of net revenue toward repurchasing ENA tokens, sending the token up 10.7% on the day.

Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan predicted earlier in August that crypto valuations could double in the next two years as more protocols channel revenue into buybacks and token burns, increasingly aligning token holder returns with protocol performance.