Major Buyback Activity Across Crypto Projects
New data from CoinGecko reveals that cryptocurrency projects have been actively buying back their own tokens throughout 2025. The total volume reached $1.4 billion between January 1 and October 15, which is quite a substantial figure when you think about it. I mean, that’s real money being put back into these ecosystems.
Hyperliquid stands out as the most aggressive buyer, accounting for nearly half of all buyback activity. Their team purchased $644 million worth of HYPE tokens, which represents a massive commitment to their own platform. When a project puts that much capital behind their token, it sends a pretty clear signal about their confidence in the long-term value.
Other Notable Players in Buyback Space
LayerZero follows as the second-largest buyer, having initiated over $150 million in buybacks after their highly anticipated airdrop. That’s interesting timing – coming right after distributing tokens to the community. Pump.fun spent $138 million to buy back 3% of their total PUMP supply, which shows they’re serious about managing their token economics.
GMX, despite being only the 11th largest by volume, actually repurchased 13% of their circulating supply. That’s a much higher percentage than most other projects, and they redistributed a significant portion back to their community. It makes you wonder about different approaches to token management – some focus on raw dollar amounts, others on percentage of supply.
Solana DEXes Raydium and Jupiter together spent more than $160 million on buybacks. The pattern seems clear – decentralized exchanges are particularly active in this space, perhaps because they have clearer revenue streams to fund these purchases.
Why Projects Engage in Buybacks
From what I can tell, these buybacks serve multiple purposes. They reduce potential selling pressure in the market, which can help stabilize token prices. When teams and founders personally buy tokens, it demonstrates confidence that goes beyond just corporate statements. There’s something more genuine about putting your own money where your mouth is.
Ethena’s founder Guy Young recently purchased $25 million worth of ENA tokens, and the market noticed – ENA outperformed all other top 100 altcoins that day. That kind of immediate reaction shows how powerful these signals can be.
Beyond the psychological impact, buybacks actually reduce circulating supply. When tokens are bought and potentially burned or locked up, the remaining tokens become scarcer. Basic economics suggests that scarcity tends to support higher prices, all else being equal.
The Bigger Picture
What strikes me about this data is how mature the crypto space has become. We’re seeing established projects with real revenue using traditional corporate finance strategies like buybacks. It’s a far cry from the early days when most projects just focused on building and hoping for adoption.
Still, I think we should be cautious about reading too much into these numbers. Buybacks can be positive signals, but they’re just one piece of the puzzle. The real test remains whether these projects continue to deliver value to users and build sustainable businesses.
The $1.4 billion figure is impressive, but what matters more is how these funds are deployed and whether they actually create long-term value for token holders. Only time will tell if this trend represents genuine confidence or just temporary market maneuvers.
