In a market dominated by token unlocks and emission-heavy models, one trend quietly flipped the script, buybacks.
Protocols are now spending real money to reduce supply pressure, and the numbers show it’s starting to matter.
According to Tokenomist data, a total of $1.2 billion in buyback inflows have absorbed an average 4.59% of circulating supply across eight major projects as of October 2025.
1/ $1.2B in Buyback Inflows Absorbed 4.59% of Circulating Supply Across 8 Major Protocols 🔥
In a year dominated by token unlocks and inflationary emissions, buybacks have become one of the few measurable forms of supply absorption.
Here’s how the numbers stack up 👇 pic.twitter.com/vNQAFymuC8
— Tokenomist (@Tokenomist_ai) October 28, 2025
Why It Matters
2025 has been the year of massive unlocks.
Over $1.12 billion worth of new tokens entered circulation from vesting schedules and emissions, flooding markets with liquidity.
Buybacks have become one of the few measurable forms of supply absorption, an actual counterforce to inflation.
Unlike staking or yield rewards (which often print new tokens), buybacks rely on existing capital.
They represent protocols deploying treasury assets to remove circulating supply, often by purchasing tokens from the open market.
That’s a major shift in market structure, from inflationary emissions to deflationary support.
Aggregate Buyback Overview
As of October 2025, aggregated buyback inflows stand at $1.2 billion, absorbing an average of 4.59% of total circulating supply across tracked protocols.
Top Three by Value
- Â $HYPE, $916.66M (76.38%)
- Â $PUMP, $151.12M (12.59%)
- Â $JUP, $62.2M (5.18%)
Together, these three account for 94.1% of total buyback value.
It’s a highly concentrated trend, a handful of projects are driving nearly all the recorded absorption.
Buybacks vs Emissions
Across the eight protocols analyzed, buybacks have offset roughly 110% of emission value this year.
That means, on aggregate, more tokens were purchased and removed from circulation than were created via inflation.
In practice, that’s one of the few times in this cycle where net token supply turned deflationary for a measurable period.
Do Buybacks Impact Price?
The data paints a mixed picture.
Among projects running active buyback programs, only two have seen significant price appreciation since launch, $HYPE and $AAVE.
-  $HYPE → +200% since the HL Assistance Fund began treasury buybacks.
Consistent support from Hyperliquid’s revenue pool has allowed $HYPE to weather volatility and maintain strong liquidity.
-  $AAVE → +94% since its April buyback program began, marking one of the most effective treasury-driven recoveries this year.
By contrast, $PUMP rallied early but has since cooled, down 29% since the program’s first phase.
Other tokens like $JUP, $ETHFI, and $RESOLV continue to trade under pressure, showing that not every buyback guarantees market recovery.
Jupiter’s Next Move
For $JUP, structural changes may be the next catalyst.
The protocol has proposed a DAO vote to approve a 121M token burn, shorten unstaking periods from 30 days to 7, and refine its voting scope.
That’s a clear signal that Jupiter is resetting its token economy around sustainable governance and liquidity flow.
But for now, market reaction remains muted.
The Buyback Paradox
Buybacks sound bullish on paper, but in practice, they can cut both ways.
If a token’s core utility weakens, buybacks can quickly turn from support mechanisms into capital sinks, draining treasury funds without delivering long-term price relief.
That’s why analysts view these programs as short-term stabilizers, not standalone growth tools.
They work best when paired with strong utility and consistent revenue inflows.
As one trader put it on X, “Buybacks buy time, not conviction.”
Market Trend Analysis
Buyback activity peaked between Q2 and Q3 2025, coinciding with major unlock periods across Solana, Ethereum Layer 2s, and DeFi protocols.
Three distinct patterns emerged:
1. Meme and retail-driven tokens, like Pump.fun and Bonk, showed stronger relative absorption due to active community liquidity and faster turnover.
2. DeFi protocols, such as AAVE and RESOLV, relied on structured, revenue-linked repurchases but moved slower in execution.
3. Revenue-backed platforms, like Hyperliquid ($HYPE), displayed consistent execution, buying tokens across market cycles instead of one-time events.
Beyond Burn Events
Buybacks are evolving.
They’re no longer one-off burn announcements meant to drive temporary hype.
Instead, they’re being built into long-term supply management frameworks, often automated through treasury smart contracts.
Hyperliquid’s “HL Assistance Fund” model and AAVE’s “Treasury Buyback Stream” are now viewed as case studies in sustainable capital rotation.
As these structures mature, expect buybacks to become a core metric in how protocols manage tokenomics, just like emissions, staking yield, or TVL once were.
Broader Market Implications
This wave of buyback activity suggests a maturing crypto economy.
Protocols are starting to mirror traditional finance tactics, share repurchases, yield management, and deflationary offsets.
The difference?
In crypto, every transaction is on-chain and transparent, allowing real-time tracking of treasury behavior.
That visibility creates new analytical tools. Sites like Tokenomist.ai are now tracking on-chain buyback flows the same way CoinMarketCap tracks volume or supply, turning treasury management into a quantifiable metric.
The $1.2B in buyback inflows seen so far in 2025 marks one of the strongest supply-side contractions since the last bull cycle.
Still, price impact remains uneven.
Buybacks can support token floors, but they don’t rebuild fundamentals.
For projects like $HYPE and $AAVE, consistent execution has rewarded holders.
For others, it’s a reminder that buybacks alone can’t fix weak demand or broken token design.
As the market heads into 2026, watch how protocols evolve these programs, from reactive treasury interventions into systemic, yield-backed capital strategies.
Because in a year where emissions flood the market, absorption is the real alpha.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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