The trader said buybacks have limited impact on token prices, pointing to a wide gap between HYPE and PUMP valuations despite strong annualized revenue at both projects.
Trader Ansem said token buybacks do little to lift prices, arguing that the sharper difference between Hyperliquid and Pump.fun lies in market trust rather than revenue alone. In an X post dated July 16 and surfaced on July 17, he compared Hyperliquid’s about $800 million annualized revenue and about $65 billion HYPE fully diluted valuation (FDV, total token value if all tokens were circulating) with Pump.fun’s about $440 million annualized revenue and about $1.4 billion PUMP FDV. He said the valuation gap reflects a market “trust premium,” crediting Hyperliquid for consistently rewarding core users while criticizing Pump.fun over an unfulfilled airdrop (token distribution to users) promise. Both platforms use part of their revenue to repurchase tokens, but Ansem’s point was that buybacks alone cannot close a valuation gap if a project fails to build trust with users and investors.