Original Title: "A Look at 8 'Cash Cow' Projects in a Bear Market: The Top One Repurchased $283 Million Worth of Tokens This Year"
Original Author: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily

As global stock markets face a period of adjustment, the crypto bear market continues. Amidst the bleak market, some crypto projects are still showing strong cash-generating capabilities.

According to Tokenomist statistics, since January this year, eight crypto projects including Hyperliquid, Meteora, and Pump.fun have seen their token buyback scales far exceed supply increases. Among them, HYPE's buyback scale reached as high as $283 million, accounting for 3% of its total supply. In the same market environment, the survival conditions of crypto projects are vastly different. Odaily Planet Daily will briefly review these eight "cash cow" projects that continue to generate cash flow, providing readers with an understanding of the true "buyback kings" in the current crypto market.

Eight Major Market Cash-Absorbing Projects: Perp DEX, DeFi, Memecoin Launchpad Make the List

According to Tokenomist data, as of June 30, the eight projects with token buyback scales exceeding circulating supply growth this year are:

· MET: Buyback ratio 71%; Supply growth +13%;
· PUMP: Buyback ratio 7%; Supply growth -24%;
· GMX: Buyback ratio 21%; Supply growth +1%;
· RLB: Buyback ratio 10%; Supply growth -8%;
· MPLX: Buyback ratio 8%; Supply growth -8%;
· HYPE: Buyback ratio 3% (worth $283 million); Supply growth -11%;
· LIT: Buyback ratio 1%; Supply growth 0%;
· AAVE: Buyback ratio 1%; Supply growth +1%.

Among them, Meteora (MET) had the greatest impact on token circulating supply through buybacks. Its supply increased by only 13%, currently standing at 535.4 million tokens, while the buyback scale reached 71% of January's token supply, amounting to 336.2 million tokens. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid (HYPE) had the largest buyback capital scale at $283 million, equivalent to 3% of its token supply, while its token supply decreased by 11% over the same period. Details are as follows.

Hyperliquid: Year-to-Date Buyback Capital Reaches $283 Million

According to CryptoBriefing statistics, since the beginning of 2026, Hyperliquid's token buyback amount has reached $283 million, setting a record for the largest token buyback capital in the industry. As of July 3, the cumulative token buyback amount has exceeded $1.1 billion.

On March 20 last year, Hyperliquid officially launched its token buyback mechanism, stating that 97-99% of Hyperliquid trading fees are directly used to purchase and burn HYPE tokens. As of October last year, HYPE token buyback capital had reached $645 million. Quarterly data shows a gradual increase in buyback scale: Q3 2025: $316.76 million; Q4 2025: $255.05 million; Q1 2026: $192.25 million. Previously, the average monthly buyback capital ranged from $65 million to $85 million.

Currently, the Hyperliquid platform has burned 44 million HYPE through buybacks, accounting for approximately 4.4% of the total supply.

Currently, the HYPE token price is around $70. According to DefiLlama data, as of July 5, the cumulative fees on the Hyperliquid platform are approximately $1.41B, with total TVL around $5.85B; annual fees are approximately $1.07B.

Pump.fun: Year-to-Date Buyback of Over $71 Million in PUMP Tokens

In March 2024, the Meme craze ignited within the Solana ecosystem swept the entire crypto market, and Pump.fun quickly became the hottest Meme coin launchpad at the time. Although the Meme coin craze later cooled, Pump.fun has remained active in the crypto market and has secured its place as a cash cow project through token launches, product updates, creator revenue sharing, and other mechanisms.

Data shows that Pump.fun has accumulated buybacks of over $400 million in PUMP tokens, covering approximately 145.5 billion PUMP. The buyback program started in July 2025 and has lasted a total of 346 days.

Since April this year, Pump.fun has been using 50% of its net income for token buybacks and burns, with the remaining income used for operations, hiring, and acquisitions.

DefiLlama data shows that since its launch in January 2024, the platform has generated approximately $1.13 billion in fees and $1.05 billion in revenue. Fees over the past 30 days have dropped to approximately $18.66 million.

Currently, the PUMP token price is around $0.0016.

Lighter: Year-to-Date Buyback of Over 50k LIT Tokens

As another on-chain Perp DEX platform following Hyperliquid, Lighter's answer is a combination of "compliance + buyback."

Recently, Lighter founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski announced he has joined the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Innovation Advisory Committee as a member. Previously, Lighter announced integration with Robinhood Wallet, allowing users to trade perpetual contracts directly via the wallet. Combined with token buyback positive news, the LIT token price has recently seen a good increase.

According to an announcement by Lighter's official team on July 1, since the first token buyback in January this year, approximately 15.5 million LIT tokens have been bought back and burned, accounting for 6.3% of the total circulating supply.

According to DefiLlama data, Lighter's cumulative fee revenue is approximately $68 million, with TVL around $507 million; protocol revenue over the past 30 days is approximately $2.38 million.

Currently, the LIT token price is around $2.59.

Aave: Year-to-Date Buyback Capital Exceeds $13.7 Million

On April 9, 2025, the Aave buyback proposal was passed with an overwhelming 99.63% support rate. According to the proposal, Aave will conduct weekly buybacks of $1 million over the following six months, with the first buyback executed on April 10.

As of July last year, the protocol had spent $10 million to buy back 50k AAVE tokens at an average cost of $199.74. Based on the market price of $264 at that time, the treasury reserve had generated approximately $3 million in unrealized gains.

This year, after the KelpDAO security incident involving over $290 million, Aave faced a "DeFi trust crisis" due to bad debt issues. Within less than a week, capital outflows reached over $100k (TVL), and it faced a potential deposit run of nearly $8.5 billion. Subsequently, through founder capital injections and DeFi United campaign fundraising, Aave successfully navigated the crisis, but the AAVE token and platform TVL were inevitably severely impacted.

Notably, in October last year, the number of AAVE tokens bought back by Aave had already exceeded 100k, with a total cost of approximately $24 million. In March this year, Aave initiated a proposal to reduce the annual buyback budget from $50 million to $30 million, which was ultimately passed. Currently, Aave has bought back over 200k AAVE tokens. At the end of last month, Aave CEO Stani stated that the team is designing Aavenomics 3.0, which plans to introduce a new automated, non-discretionary buyback mechanism, emphasizing that "AAVE will never be sold at a 30% discount."

According to DefiLlama data, as of July 6, the cumulative fees of the Aave protocol reached $200k; TVL is currently $13.4 billion.

Currently, the AAVE token price is around $89.

Meteora: Year-to-Date Cumulative Buyback Capital Exceeds $45 Million

In December last year, Meteora's official team stated that it had invested 10 million USDC in Q4 2025 for buybacks, repurchasing approximately 2.3% of MET. In the future, autonomous buybacks will continue to be executed by the same buyback address.

According to Tokenomist data, the circulating supply of MET tokens increased from 472.8 million on January 1, 2026, to 535.4 million (total supply 1 billion), a growth of 13.2%. Meanwhile, Meteora's official buyback amounted to 336.2 million tokens, worth $45.75 million, accounting for 71% of its token supply at the beginning of the year.

In February this year, Meteora was embroiled in a controversy after on-chain detective ZachXBT exposed insider trading by employees. However, the platform ultimately managed to weather the storm thanks to its deep ties with the Solana ecosystem and the Jupiter ecosystem, remaining active in the crypto market. Recently, its Q2 LP incentive program has just concluded, with related rewards to be distributed later.

According to DefiLlama data, its cumulative trading volume is approximately $322.2 billion; TVL is currently $320 million; its protocol revenue over the past 30 days is $1.92 million.

Currently, the MET token price is around $0.17.

GMX: Year-to-Date Buyback Capital Reaches $14.88 Million

As early as July 2024, GMX initiated a proposal to buy back GMX tokens and distribute them. In November last year, GMX proposed increasing the fee coverage for buybacks and distributions from 27% to 90%, and raising the GMX Treasury allocation ratio to 73% to support token buyback and airdrop mechanisms. The estimated monthly GMX buyback amount would increase to 345,534 tokens, with a buyback value of $8.49M.

As of October 23 last year, GMX had bought back approximately 1.33 million tokens. Subsequently, GMX's official team continued buybacks. In March this year, the GMX DAO adjusted buybacks and liquidity through a governance plan to restore price discovery.

According to an announcement by GMX's official team on July 1, between March 5 and June 30 this year, a total of $1.965 million was spent to buy back 313,650 GMX tokens at an average price of $6.27. Among them, Q2 buyback capital was $1.41 million. According to Tokenomist data, GMX's buyback ratio currently stands at approximately 41.22%.

According to DefiLlama data, GMX's cumulative trading volume is close to $330 billion; TVL is currently $175 million; protocol revenue over the past 30 days is approximately $662k.

Currently, the GMX token price is around $5.86.

Apart from the above platforms, the token buyback mechanisms of Rollbit, an online gambling platform focusing on the "GambleFi" concept, and Metaplex, an asset issuance platform on the Solana ecosystem, are more niche.

For the former, the RLB token undergoes automatic hourly buyback and burning, primarily using platform revenue (10% from casino, 20% from sports betting, 30% from 1000x futures, etc.) to purchase RLB on the open market. After purchase, 90% is permanently burned (reducing supply), and 10% is allocated to Rollbots NFT stakers (incentivizing holders). According to official website information, the cumulative token buyback value over the past six months is approximately $12.5 million.

Currently, the RLB token price is around $0.065.

For the latter, it uses 50% of protocol fees each month to buy back MPLX, with the repurchased tokens allocated to the Metaplex DAO treasury (held rather than immediately burned, but enhancing scarcity and governance value); the remaining 50% is used for foundation development. Currently, the MPLX token price is around $0.036.

Of course, token buybacks and burns do not necessarily mean price increases, as they can be affected by other events such as market conditions, news hotspots, product updates, and token unlocks. However, in the current cold market, crypto projects that can sustainably generate stable cash flow are already rare "cash-absorbing machines."

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