The decentralized trading platform Hyperliquid and memecoin creation hub Pump.fun were responsible for almost 90% of the unprecedented $638 million spent on token repurchases across crypto initiatives thus far in 2026.
Digital asset projects have deployed an all-time high of $638 million to buy back their native tokens year-to-date, rising from $545 million across the matching timeframe in 2025 and merely $366,000 in 2024, as indicated by Allium Labs metrics referenced in a Monday article by the Financial Times. Within this $638 million total, Hyperliquid represented approximately $370 million while Pump.fun contributed close to $200 million.
Token repurchases function much like corporate stock buybacks, where publicly traded firms acquire their own equity to bolster market prices and improve yields for current stakeholders.
Although repurchasing tokens remains uncommon across the cryptocurrency sector, a growing number of entities are adopting this strategy. On Thursday, the Ethena Foundation initiated community voting regarding a fee-switch initiative directing 95% of its net earnings from fundamental operations toward repurchasing Ethena (ENA) tokens. Following the proposal’s introduction, ENA’s price climbed by 10.7% the next day.
Crypto project expenditure on token repurchases, year-to-date through Aug. 25. Source: Allium Labs, Financial Times.
HYPE and PUMP Outpace Wider Crypto Market Amid Buyback-Driven Valuations
Tokens for Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Pump.fun (PUMP) have exceeded broader market performance despite the wider cryptocurrency downturn in 2026.
HYPE gained 145% and PUMP advanced 109% year-to-date, whereas Bitcoin (BTC) contracted 10% and overall digital asset market capitalization shrank by 11.9% over that identical duration, based on data from TradingView.
Year-to-date comparison chart for HYPE, PUMP, BTC, and Total Crypto Market Cap. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Hyperliquid dedicates roughly 99% of its earnings to purchasing its own tokens. On Aug. 6, Hyperliquid disclosed $169 million in second-quarter income, funneling $141 million of that amount into HYPE repurchases.
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Pump.fun reserves approximately 50% of its net protocol earnings for token buybacks. The memecoin issuance platform presently records $420 million in annualized revenue, calculated from daily averages over the preceding 90 days.
Valuations across crypto assets might see a two-fold increase over the upcoming two years as protocols progressively utilize revenue to back token buybacks and burning mechanisms, thereby distributing increased value back to holders, noted Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, earlier in August.
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Originally published at https://cointelegraph.com/news/hyperliquid-pumpfun-90-record-638m-crypto-buybacks?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound.
