Digital asset groups have spent nearly $640 million buying back their own tokens this year, a strategy borrowed from equity markets to revive prices during a prolonged downturn. Figures from blockchain data group Allium Labs show $638 million spent so far in 2026, compared to $545 million over the same period last year and just $366,000 for all of 2024. Perpetuals exchange Hyperliquid and memecoin platform pump.fun account for nearly 90 percent of the buybacks.

Hyperliquid has led the charge, spending 99 percent of its trading fee revenue to repurchase its HYPE token, buying back and cancelling $1.3 billion since launching in December 2024. HYPE has surged 70 percent over the past year. Sky Protocol has bought $26 million of its SKY tokens to align holders with long-term success.

Lido announced plans for regular buybacks once it hits $40 million in annualised revenues. However, results vary; Jupiter has spent nearly $14 million yet its token price fell 55 percent. The buybacks come as bitcoin is down 38 percent and other tokens like XRP and solana are down around 60 percent since peaks.

US regulators under the Trump administration have taken a friendlier stance, making executives more comfortable running token buyback programmes.