Crypto projects have spent a record $638 million on token buybacks so far in 2026, up from $545 million in the same period of 2025 and $366,000 across all of 2024, with broader tallies placing an all-time high near $640 million, per Allium Labs data. Decentralized perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid and memecoin launchpad Pump.fun accounted for nearly 90% of the total, channeling protocol revenue into HYPE and PUMP repurchases in a model akin to corporate share buybacks. Hyperliquid routes about 99% of protocol and trading fees into buying HYPE, has retired roughly $1.3 billion of the token since December 2024, and saw HYPE set a fresh all-time high as a new buyback engine went live; Pump.fun allocates half of revenue to open-market PUMP buys and permanent burns, deploying about $442.94 million and destroying 163.03 billion tokens, or 16.3% of supply. Smaller programs include Sky Protocol’s roughly $26 million of SKY purchases, Lido’s NEST revenue-triggered LDO buys, Chainlink buybacks, and Jupiter’s nearly $14 million of JUP repurchases this year. Performance has diverged: HYPE gained 217.9% since January 1 and peaked at $86.71 on August 27, PUMP rose 124.5%, SKY added 20.1%, and JUP gained 9.3%, while LINK fell 7.6% and LDO dropped 39%, though August’s broader crypto rally complicates isolating buyback effects after only HYPE showed a major gain through July 31. The Ethena Foundation has opened a vote to route 95% of net revenue from core lines into ENA repurchases, and longer-run activity still includes large Uniswap and Aave retirement programs alongside structural limits from unlocks, emissions, and weak holder claims on cash flow.