Hyperliquid and Pump.fun Drive $640M Surge in Crypto Token Buybacks

Crypto protocols have spent approximately $638M buying back their own tokens so far in 2026, leaning into an increasingly accommodating US regulatory environment. Two platforms, Hyperliquid and the Solana-based memecoin launchpad pump.fun, account for nearly 90% of the total buyback volume this year. Hyperliquid wires approximately 99% of its trading fees directly into an Assistance Fund that continuously buys and burns its native token on the open market, pushing total repurchases over $1.1B since its late 2024 launch. Following a significant earlier token burn, pump.fun pivoted in April 2026 to allocate 50% of its net revenue toward ongoing open-market repurchases of its native token, surpassing $400M by mid-2026. The cumulative 2026 volume completely eclipses the $545M recorded during the same period last year and dwarfs the $366,000 spent across the entirety of 2024.