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In 2025, token buyback programs are nothing unusual. This practice is widespread in the industry and is often used to support asset value.
Protocols regularly allocate part of their revenue to repurchase their own tokens, aiming to strengthen the economy, retain users, and increase the resilience of the ecosystem.
The Incrypted editorial team studied the market situation and compiled a top-10 list of projects with buyback programs ranked by market capitalization.
What is it About?
A buyback is a mechanism in which a protocol repurchases its tokens from the market, reducing their circulating supply and influencing the project’s economy. This practice came to the crypto market from traditional finance, where companies buy back their shares to improve business efficiency, return capital to shareholders, and stimulate stock price growth.
In the digital asset industry, beyond reducing supply, buybacks can also be used to burn tokens, replenish liquidity reserves, or redistribute tokens in favor of the community.
The main goal of such operations is to lower circulating supply and strengthen trust in the tokenomics. By repurchasing tokens, a project signals to the community its financial stability and readiness to share revenue with asset holders.
The Magnificent Ten
Our team has compiled topical projects that use buyback programmes to strengthen their own position.
BNB Chain (BNB)
BNB Chain is a multi-part blockchain ecosystem that emerged from Binance Chain and Binance Smart Chain. Its cryptocurrency BNB is the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation among all digital assets with a market cap of $138.8 billion.
At the time of writing, the BNB exchange rate is holding near the $1000 mark, which is actually the historical maximum of the asset.
The project generates stable income. In 2024, it amounted to about $234m, and in the first quarter of 2025 — $70.8m, which is 58% more than a quarter earlier.
Note that the developers have been using the Buyback and Burn programme for a long time. They let some of the project’s profits go to buy back BNB tokens from the market and then burn them. Thus, the two processes were directly linked.
However, in 2021, the team switched to a new system called Auto-Burn. This system takes BNB out of circulation every quarter, and the number of tokens destroyed depends on the price and number of blocks generated.
According to BNBBurn, the total volume of coins burned exceeds 62,813,000 BNB. This asset volume is valued at $62.6 billion as of 18 September.
Chainlink (LINK)
Chainlink’s decentralised network of oracles serves as a bridge between blockchains and the real world. Its task is to provide smart contracts with reliable and tamper-proof data from external sources, such as market quotes, weather conditions or the results of sports matches.
The LINK cryptocurrency, in turn, is used to pay oracles, secure the network and reward node operators. LINK’s current exchange rate is around $24.6 and its market capitalisation exceeds $16 billion.
In August 2025, the project launched a programme called Chainlink Reserve, on which it spends a portion of revenues from corporate clients and commissions for using the network.
Under this initiative, all revenues generated in other digital assets (e.g. Ethereum or USDC) are automatically converted into LINK. The cryptocurrency is then sent to a strategic reserve. It is used to support the long-term growth of the project, the value of LINK and the sustainability of the Chainlink network.
As of 11 September 2025, about 280,049 LINKs have accumulated in this reserve, equivalent to approximately $6.8 million. Although the program is not a buyback in the classic sense, the systematic accumulation of tokens creates constant demand pressure and supports the growth of the ecosystem.
Hyperliquid (HYPE)
Hyperliquid is a decentralised exchange for open-ended futures (DEX) built on its own L1 blockchain. Thanks to the decentralised order book model, the project allows executing trades faster than most competitors and is one of the leaders in the derivatives DEX segment.
HYPE cryptocurrency is used to manage and reward network participants. As of 19 September 2025, HYPE’s price exceeds $56 and its market capitalisation exceeds $16 billion.
One of the notable features of Hyperliquid tokenomics is its aggressive buyback mechanism. Although the team doesn’t officially publish data on the backtickets, experts believe that more than 97% of the profits from trading commissions are channelled into HYPE’s buyback from the open market.
These tokens are then burned, which creates deflationary pressure. Since the launch of the programme, the total amount of tokens redeemed has exceeded $431 million. According to Dune Analytics, the amount in the Assistance Fund, from which the buybacks are allocated, exceeds $1.8 billion.
Ethena (ENA)
Ethena is the issuer of the USDe stablecoin. Unlike traditional «stable coins» backed by fiat reserves, this solution maintains its peg to the dollar through a delta-neutral hedging strategy. The mechanism allows the project to ensure USDe stability and generate revenue.
We spoke in detail about the mentioned instrument in a separate material:
The ENA project’s proprietary token is used to make key decisions as part of the decentralised governance of the protocol. Holders of the asset can vote on the development of Ethena, including risk management parameters, revenue sharing, and future changes to the protocol.
In November 2024, market maker Wintermute proposed to the protocol community to change Ethena’s revenue distribution structure. It is expected that upon reaching certain metrics, the project will allocate a portion of the revenue directly to ENA stakers and holders.
on 15 September, the Ethena Foundation confirmed that the key metrics required to implement the proposal have been achieved. Ethena’s risk committee is in the process of finalising the implementation details, after which the community will vote in favour of the proposed framework.
As of September 2025, ENA has a market capitalisation of approximately $4.85 billion. The token value is holding around $0.678.
Note that on September 5, a new ENA token buyback programme was launched by the Ethena Foundation with the support of some companies. As part of the initiative, the foundation will spend $310 million to acquire the asset. Together with the previous programme, the total volume of the ENA buyback will reach $570 million.
Aave (AAVE)
Aave is a decentralised protocol for lending and borrowing. The project has become a prominent player in the DeFi sector and operates on various blockchains. The features it offers, such asflash loans, have made the protocol one of the key elements aggregating liquidity for the sector.
The AAVE protocol token is used for project management. Its holders can vote on key decisions such as adding new assets, changing lending rates or updating risk parameters.
At the time of writing, the market capitalisation of AAVE is $4.65 billion. As for the price of the asset, the rate is currently holding near $304. Over the last 30 days AAVE has grown in price by 9.7%.
In April 2025, the project launched a token buyback pilot programme aimed at using a portion of the protocol’s revenue to buy back AAVE from the market. As part of this initiative, the project is allocating about $1 million per week to buy back its tokens.
As of September 2025, the total amount spent on the programme has almost reached $22 million.
OKB (OKB)
OKB is the utility token of the OKX exchange. It is the centrepiece of the platform’s entire ecosystem, providing users with a number of benefits.
OKB holders receive discounts on trading commissions, exclusive access to the platform to launch new OKX Jumpstart tokens and increased revenue on OKX Earn products. They can also participate in the management of the OKChain blockchain.
In this way, OKB functions as a kind of membership card directly tied to the activity and growth of the exchange.
As of September 2025, the OKB token has a market capitalisation of around $4.6 billion. The asset’s exchange rate is at $194 at the time of writing. Month-to-month gains have reached 61.5%, and OKB has jumped nearly 295% in value since the beginning of the year.
Until August 2025, OKX followed the classic buyback and burn model. The exchange bought back and destroyed tokens on the open market on a quarterly basis, using 30% of its revenue.
However, at the end of the summer, OKX carried out a large-scale burn, taking 65.3 million OKBs out of circulation, worth about $7.3 billion. The move was not part of a regular programme. It was the final action that fixed the maximum supply of the token at 21 million.
Thus, OKX moved from a dynamic deflationary model to a fixed and limited supply.
pump.fun (PUMP)
pump.fun is a popular token launch platform built on the Solana blockchain. It allows any user to create and launch new memcoins without having to deposit initial liquidity.
The pump.fun mechanism is based on abonding curve, which ensures that each new token has instant liquidity. This simplifies the startup process and makes it safe for users. This approach has allowed the platform to become a leader among memcoin lunchepads.
The PUMP platform token plays a dual role. It serves for decentralised governance, allowing holders to vote on key protocol development issues.
At the time of writing, the price of PUMP is around $0.0074. At the same time, on 14 September the asset set a new historical maximum at $0.0089. The market capitalisation of the token exceeds $2.63 billion, which makes it one of the most successful tokens in its niche.
One of the key elements of PUMP tokenomics is the buyback programme. On 15 July, the project began systematically buying back tokens from the open market using a portion of the fees charged for transactions on the platform.
As of mid-September 2025, pump.fun has already purchased tokens totalling over $106 million. This buyback is not a one-off action, but a continuous process aimed at reducing the total token supply, which is currently down by around 6.98%
Sky (SKY)
Sky (formerly known as MakerDAO) is one of the oldest projects in decentralised finance. It is a DeFi lending platform and makes it possible to borrow using crypto-assets as collateral.
The project’s own management token, SKY (formerly MKR), plays an important role in managing the protocol. Token holders have the right to vote on all key issues, such as changing the size of commissions, adding new types of collateral for DAI or amending the protocol.
As of September 18, the asset has a market capitalisation of $1.77 billion. SKY’s exchange rate is around $0.075 and the token has a monthly growth rate of over 51%.
The buyback mechanism is one of the key components of SKY tokenomics. The protocol generates revenue through «stabilisation fees» — the interest that borrowers pay for the use of loan funds.
A portion of this revenue is used to buy SKY tokens on the open market, after which they are burned, permanently reducing the total supply. Sky spent more than $75 million on the programme between February and September 2025.
Jupiter (JUP)
Jupiter is an aggregator of decentralised exchanges (DEX) in the Solana ecosystem. Its main function is to find the best routes and favourable prices for token exchanges by automatically distributing user orders between exchanges.
The JUP project asset, as in a number of previous cases, is a management token. Its holders have the right to vote on all important decisions regarding the protocol, including the introduction of new features, changes to the commission structure and the allocation of funds from the treasury.
This gives the community control over the future of the project. As of September, JUP is priced at $0.54 and has a market capitalisation of $1.69 billion.
In January 2025, Jupiter announced a new programme aimed at increasing the value of its token. As part of the initiative, the project will use 50% of all commissions generated by the platform to buy back JUP from the open market.
This is an important element of the project’s tokenomics. The programme is expected to raise over $100 million annually, making it one of the largest buyback programmes in the Solana ecosystem. This is not a one-time action, but an ongoing process that aims to grow the value of the asset for investors.
Nexo (NEXO)
Nexo is a centralised financial platform offering a suite of digital asset products. Key services include instant loans, high-yield savings accounts (Nexo Earn) and an integrated exchange.
The protocol focuses on security and regulatory compliance, providing customers with a secure environment to manage their assets.
The NEXO platform token offers users a number of benefits. The value of an asset is closely tied to its features. NEXO holders receive lower interest rates on loans, higher interest on savings and the right to participate in the dividend programme. All this depends on the user’s level of loyalty, which is determined by the number of NEXO tokens in his account.
As of September 2025, NEXO is priced at $1.29 and has a market capitalisation of over $833 million.
Nexo periodically launches buyback programmes. As part of these initiatives, the project uses a portion of its profits to buy back NEXO tokens from the open market. In total, it has conducted three rounds to acquire the asset.
In the last one, called Buyback 3, the platform bought back NEXO for $50 million, with the total amount of purchased assets estimated at $162 million.
Most of the projects on the list generate real financial flows. Protocols like pump.fun, Jupiter, Aave and Ethena generate revenue from commissions, loans and other sources, making their business models clear and sustainable.
Other players like OKX, BNB and Hyperliquid also show stable revenue and support for their assets.
However, despite having real revenue and working products, many of the tokens mentioned are well below their historical highs, causing a mismatch between fundamental growth and current market valuation.