Crypto projects have allocated approximately $640 million to token buybacks so far in 2026, marking a 17 percent year-over-year increase from $546 million in 2025.
Hyperliquid and Pump.fun lead the trend, collectively accounting for nearly 90 percent of current buyback expenditure. Hyperliquid dedicates 99 percent of protocol revenue to buying back and burning its native HYPE token. Pump.fun directs 50 percent of revenue toward PUMP token buybacks and burns, with $446.65 million worth of PUMP already removed from circulation.
These actions create direct demand for tokens while reducing supply, establishing a link between protocol economic activity and token valuation. Orest Gavryliak, chief legal officer at decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch, said communicating that a project has "bought and burned tokens" is "much more straightforward" than explaining governance rights or fee structures.
Max Shannon, senior research associate at Bitwise Europe, noted that buybacks and burns "create a continuous bid in the open market for the token, directly tethering token success." This mechanism offers tokenholders tangible connection to protocol economic performance.
However, every dollar spent on buybacks represents capital that could fund developer hiring, operational expansion, balance sheet strengthening, or product development.
DeFi infrastructure protocol Spark employs a different approach. The protocol has acquired over 143 million SPK tokens through open-market buybacks funded by operational surplus, but does not burn them. Instead, according to co-founder and chief executive Sam MacPherson, the tokens remain in the Spark treasury to reward long-term ecosystem participants.
