Crypto projects have deployed $640 million toward token buybacks in 2026, a 17 percent increase from the prior year and a steep jump from the $366,000 recorded in 2024.
Hyperliquid and Pump.fun account for nearly 90 percent of the activity. The mechanism is straightforward: protocols capture a share of protocol revenue to purchase their native tokens from the open market, often followed by token burns that permanently remove supply.
Hyperliquid directs 99 percent of its revenue to buybacks and burns of HYPE. Pump.fun allocates 50 percent of revenue to the same strategy, with $446.65 million in PUMP tokens already removed from circulation.
Orest Gavryliak, chief legal officer at 1inch, said communicating buybacks and burns is "much more straightforward" than detailing governance rights or fee structures. "This approach provides token holders a more direct connection to the underlying protocol's economic performance," he said.
Max Shannon, senior research associate at Bitwise Europe, said buybacks and burns "create a continuous bid in the open market for the token, directly tethering token success." The trend marks a shift toward tangible economic models over narrative-driven valuations.
The strategy carries a structural trade-off. Capital spent on buybacks cannot be allocated to developer hiring, product expansion, balance sheet strengthening, or other operational needs.
DeFi infrastructure protocol Spark employs a divergent approach. Co-founder and chief executive Sam MacPherson said Spark acquired over 143 million SPK tokens through open-market buybacks funded by protocol surplus. Unlike Hyperliquid and Pump.fun, Spark does not burn the tokens. Instead, acquired SPK remains in the Spark treasury, designated to reward long-term ecosystem participants.
