Jupiter Exchange's $70 million buyback program throughout 2025 failed to prevent its JUP token from dropping 89% from peak levels. The decline occurred despite the exchange's repurchase efforts, which proved insufficient against $1.2 billion in scheduled token unlocks extending through June 2026.
What Happened: Buyback Debate
Founder Siong ignited debate within the Jupiter community by proposing to halt buybacks and redirect funds toward user incentives. "We spent more than $70 million on buybacks last year, and the price obviously didn't move much," he wrote on X.
His proposal suggested allocating the funds to reward active users and subsidize newcomers instead of continuing defensive market support.
Community members split over the suggestion, with some arguing buybacks prove ineffective under heavy unlock pressure while others warned that stopping them could accelerate price declines.
The buybacks covered only about 6% of unlocked tokens, with monthly unlocks of 53 million JUP scheduled through June 2026 increasing circulating supply by roughly 150% since launch.
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Why It Matters: Alternative Approaches
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko proposed an alternative model emphasizing long-term capital formation over short-term buybacks.
He suggested storing profits as future claimable assets and offering one-year staking rewards to long-term holders, which would align token prices during unlocks with anticipated post-buyback value. "Let people lockup and stake for a year to get a token yield. So as the balance sheet grows those who stake net a bigger claim," he added.
Helium recently suspended its HNT repurchase program after minimal market response, choosing instead to allocate resources toward expanding Helium Mobile subscribers and network hotspots.
Critics argue that in ecosystems where tokens function as utility vouchers rather than equity, repurchases create only short-term effects and fail when structural selling pressure dominates.
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