Jupiter's $70 million buyback program has become a textbook example of why token repurchases don't always work in crypto.
In 2025, Jupiter used roughly half of its protocol fee revenue to buy back over $70 million worth of JUP on the open market. The platform processed billions in transaction volume and remained one of Solana's most active DeFi exchanges. Yet by early January 2026, JUP traded at $0.20–$0.22, down about 89% from its peak. The culprit: supply growth.
Supply expansion dwarfs buyback capacity
Since launch, JUP's circulating supply has increased by about 150%. Monthly unlocks continue on a fixed schedule — around 53 million JUP per month through June 2026. The buyback offset only a tiny fraction of that new supply. Jupiter co-founder Siong Ong acknowledged the inefficiency in a January discussion, suggesting capital should be redirected toward growth incentives instead.
Yakovenko: short-term buybacks don't reset seller behavior
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko offered a blunt diagnosis. In markets with heavy token emissions, immediate buybacks do not change how sellers price risk. Tokens unlocked today are sold at today's spot price, regardless of future buyback intentions. He argued for a time-shifted approach: accumulate protocol profits, deploy them later, or design staking programs with longer lockups. That forces unlocks to be priced against a post-buyback environment, not current demand.
Reaction within the Jupiter community has been split. Some see buybacks as essential for discipline and alignment. Others agree that when supply expansion is this aggressive, buybacks alone cannot alter the outcome.
Jupiter has already cut its planned 2026 airdrop from 700 million to 200 million JUP. The lesson is clear: in token models where unlocks dominate, buybacks rarely change the final picture.