Hyperliquid’s Impressive $780M Buyback Outshines Competitors, While Others Face $98M Losses

In a competitive landscape of cryptocurrency buybacks, Hyperliquid stands out with a successful $780 million buyback, resulting in a significant 65% profit. In contrast, six other crypto projects collectively reported losses totaling $98 million, showing that not all buyback efforts translate into value creation.

Key Takeaways

Hyperliquid executed a $780 million buyback of 34.41 million HYPE tokens, resulting in a 65% profit margin due to its effective token utility and revenue-generating capabilities.
Other projects like Bonk, Ether.fi, LayerZero, Kaito, and Jupiter recorded significant losses, with Bonk leading at -57% despite spending $26.65 million on buybacks.
Out of seven crypto projects that spent a total of $1.1 billion on buybacks, Hyperliquid is the only one to report a profit, illustrating that buybacks do not universally create value but rather magnify existing market conditions.

Hyperliquid's $780M buyback soars 65% while Jupiter, Bonk, and LayerZero lose $98M

Hyperliquid Emerges Victorious While Others Struggle

Recent data from Tokenomist highlights Hyperliquid's dominance in the buyback arena.

Hyperliquid leading the buyback race

The perpetuals DEX allocated a remarkable $780 million to buy back 34.41 million HYPE tokens. This buyback has raised the current value to $1.28 billion, yielding a profit of $508.55 million and achieving a profit margin exceeding 65.16%.

In stark contrast, other projects have not fared as well. Bonk experienced a staggering 57% loss, even after investing $26.65 million into buybacks. LayerZero faced a 31.5% drop following its $100 million back, while Ether.fi declined by 31.4% after spending $7.73 million. Jupiter also saw a reduction of 27.5% despite a $62.12 million investment in buybacks. Overall, the combined losses from these six projects resulted in $98 million, having collectively spent $321 million on buybacks.

Why Hyperliquid Succeeded

Hyperliquid’s success can be attributed to its genuine revenue generation from perpetual futures trading, which requires users to hold HYPE tokens for fee discounts and other platform advantages. This buyback strategy amplified the existing organic demand for HYPE tokens.

Currently, HYPE is trading at $38.43, reflecting a decrease of 4.33% for the day but maintaining its position after bouncing back from a low of $35 at the end of October. The accumulation and distribution indicators suggest ongoing buying interest despite short-term market fluctuations, indicating strong demand.

The massive $780 million buyback led to a real supply shock for a relatively new token with limited circulation. Hyperliquid strategically executed these purchases during the platform's growth phase, rather than waiting until prices peaked.

Why Other Projects Encountered Losses

On the other hand, Bonk lacks a solid revenue model and has limited utility. Its buyback attempt aimed to create an artificial demand that ultimately failed as the market recognized its shortcomings. Bonk is currently trading at $0.00001166, a decline from approximately $0.000027 in October, marking a significant 56% drop. Accumulation metrics show a large distribution of -30.47 trillion tokens leaving holders' accounts.

Jupiter is experiencing similar challenges. As the leading DEX in Solana, its $62 million buyback was insufficient to overcome fundamental issues surrounding token utility. LayerZero, which invested $100 million, has not articulated a clear value proposition for its tokens beyond speculative trading.

This trend indicates that projects with weak underlying fundamentals frequently resort to buybacks to bolster their value, but such strategies are often met with market skepticism and ultimately lead to rejection of the artificial support.