Over the past year, an increasing number of projects have launched token buyback programs.
According to data platforms such as CoinGecko, the total repurchase amount for the year has exceeded $1.4 billion, with the top 10 projects accounting for 92% of the share.

Buyback mechanisms are gradually pushing the crypto industry from a "high FDV, low circulation narrative game" towards a new stage driven by real revenue and sustainable value capture.

This article will organize and review the most representative top buyback projects of the past year based on the scale of buybacks, to see which protocols are truly rewarding token holders with real money.

Top Buyback Projects in 2025 (by Buyback Size, data as of Q4 2025, source: CoinGecko, etc.)

Hyperliquid ( #HYPE )
Repurchase amount: Approximately US$645 million (46% of total repurchases for the year)
Mechanism: The Assistance Fund dedicates almost all transaction fees to continuous repurchase agreements.
Result: Over 21 million HYPE tokens have been repurchased (approximately 2.1% of the total supply).

Thanks to the explosive growth of decentralized perpetual contracts, Hyperliquid became the undisputed "buyback king" of 2025 and one of the best-performing tokens that year.

LayerZero (#ZRO )
Repurchase amount: Approximately US$150 million
Mechanism: A one-time large-scale buyback, covering approximately 5% of the total supply.
This buyback is mainly used to alleviate the selling pressure after the airdrop, and it is a typical strategic buyback, which sends a strong stabilizing signal in the cross-chain field.

http://Pump.fun (#PUMP )
Repurchase amount: Approximately US$138 million
Mechanism: Platform fees are continuously repurchased, and a portion of the tokens are burned.
Coverage percentage: Approximately 3% of total supply
Even though some of the buybacks occurred at high prices, resulting in paper losses, http://Pump.fun remains the most aggressive and talked-about buyback case among meme launch platforms.

Raydium (#RAY )
Repurchase amount: Approximately US$100 million (historical cumulative total exceeds US$200 million)
Mechanism: DEX transaction fees are used for programmatic buyback and burn.
Features: Continuously operating since 2022
Raydium is one of the most stable and classic Buyback & Burn models in the Solana ecosystem.

#Sky（原 MakerDAO，SKY）
Repurchase amount: Approximately US$78.8 million
Mechanism: The agreement's surplus will be repurchased and burned daily.
Result: Supply reduction of over 5% by 2025
As a veteran DeFi project, Sky has refined its buyback mechanism into a long-term value capture tool for the stablecoin ecosystem.

Ghost (#AAVE )
Repurchase amount: Approximately US$23.6 million (annual plan size may be higher)
Mechanism: Agreement revenue is used for permanent buybacks, executed weekly.
Aave is redefining the value return model of lending protocols in an extremely restrained yet highly sustainable manner.

Rollbit (#RLB)
Repurchase amount: Approximately US$27.9 million
Mechanism: Platform revenue is repurchased and destroyed.
Track: Gambling + DeFi Hybrid Model

Bonk (#BONK)
Repurchase amount: Approximately US$27.3 million
Mechanism: Buyback will be conducted through revenue generated from the launch pad.
Significance: To support the long-term activity of the Solana Meme ecosystem.

Jupiter (#JUP)
Repurchase amount: approximately US$57.9 million
Mechanism: DEX aggregator fee buyback
Features: Strong community-driven

Other noteworthy projects include Ethena (#ENA) and World Liberty Financial (#WLFI's proposal to use 100% of its fees for buybacks and burns), which are gradually emerging in the buyback wave.

The impact of buyback mechanisms and the outlook for 2026: The appeal of buybacks lies in genuine buying pressure. High-yield projects (such as Hyperliquid and Raydium) are more resilient to market volatility in 2025, and may even rise against the trend. It sends a strong signal to token holders—the protocol believes in its own value and is willing to reward everyone with real money.

Of course, it's not without its flaws. Some one-off buybacks have been questioned as short-term price manipulation, and some projects have incurred paper losses due to high buyback prices. Sustainability is key: relying on contractual revenue growth rather than a one-off injection of money from the national treasury.
This wave is expected to intensify in 2026.
Buybacks in the second half of 2025 have increased by 85% monthly, and more DeFi protocols (such as Aave's perpetual plan) and exchanges will follow suit.
In the future, buybacks that combine AI optimization or governance upgrades may become the new mainstream.