OpinionAltcoinsExchange
|4 min ReadApple-style buybacks are reshaping crypto token economics
Jax Morales
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
Apple didn’t just sell iPhones. It sold its stock. In 2018, it announced a 100 billion buyback after building the 5 billion Apple Park “spaceship.” Over a decade, it spent more than 725 billion buying shares. In May 2024, it did it again with 110 billion. Scarcity was the product. Shareholders were the customers.725 billion buying shares. In May 2024, it did it again with 100 billion buyback after building the
Crypto just stole that playbook. Then it hit turbo.
Two fee machines — Hyperliquid and Pump.fun — are funneling almost all revenue into daily open-market buybacks of their own tokens. Not quarterly. Daily. With size.
The playbook: turn fees into daily buybacks
Hyperliquid runs a perps-first chain with CEX-grade feel. Zero fees at the point of trade. High leverage. A full L1 built around perpetuals. By mid-2025, monthly volume topped $400 billion, about 70% share of DeFi perps.
Then the twist. Over 90% of fees go straight into an Assistance Fund that buys HYPE on the open market. In August alone, fees hit $106 million. Most got recycled into bids.
BlockworksResearch has tracked the cadence. It looks like a metronome: fees in, HYPE out of float, every day.
Hyperliquid has bought back 31.61 million HYPE to date — roughly
60 in mid-September. The bid is visible. The signal is loud. Decentralisedco on XPump.fun is the other engine. It turned memecoin mania into a toll road. Anyone can spin up a token with a bonding curve and trade instantly. In a single September day, Pump.fun revenue briefly beat Hyperliquid at $3.38 million. For two straight months, it routed 100% of fees into PUMP buybacks.
Pump.fun has already retired ~7.5% of supply via buybacks. Fees breathe with the meme cycle — July dipped to
41.05 million — but the policy hasn’t blinked. The machine buys when the cash flows.Why this hits different
Apple often returned ~90% of profits to holders via buybacks and dividends. That was annual boardroom pacing. Here, protocols are pushing near-100% of daily revenue into their token. In crypto, that’s unheard-of. It turns a token from a casino chip into a cashflow lever. You don’t wait for a quarterly call. You watch the wallet fill. You watch the bid lift.
Buybacks beat dividends in a tax-heavy, speed-driven market. They are flexible. They are instant. They are deflationary. They fit the game.
The caveat is obvious. Buyback strength is cashflow strength. If trading slows, the bid fades. Pump.fun’s fees swing with meme heat. Hyperliquid faces a token unlock overhang starting November — ~$12 billion worth — that dwarfs daily buybacks. Apple could issue debt to smooth cycles. Protocols can’t. There’s no Plan B product line to lean on.
Disclaimer: This document is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed in this document are not, and should not be taken as, investment advice or recommendations. Recipients should do their own due diligence, taking into account their specific financial circumstances, investment objectives and risk tolerance, which are not considered here, before investing. This document is not an offer, or the solicitation of an offer, to buy or sell any of the assets mentioned.