$70 million buyback accused of wasting resources? Jupiter may terminate the JUP buyback plan

Based on Solana’s DeFi super app Jupiter, which is considering terminating its JUP token buyback program, this news has quickly sparked widespread discussion in the crypto community. On January 2nd, Jupiter co-founder and CTO Siong Ong directly stated on social media that the buyback plan has not had a substantial impact on JUP’s price and may even be a waste of resources.

Ong mentioned that Jupiter has spent over $70 million in the past year on JUP buybacks, but the token’s price trend has not shown significant improvement. He believes that instead of continuing buybacks, the funds should be used to incentivize existing users and attract new user growth to promote the protocol’s long-term development. This view aligns with Helium founder Amir Haleem, who previously publicly announced stopping HNT buybacks due to tepid market response.

Looking back, Jupiter officially launched its JUP buyback plan in mid-February 2025 and initially achieved notable results, with JUP rising about 300% in the first month. However, the trend then sharply reversed, and in 2025, JUP hit a new low, currently trading at around $0.2, down approximately 88% from its $1.8 high. This has made “whether JUP buybacks truly benefit the price” a core concern within the community.

Regarding whether to terminate the buyback, there are clear disagreements within the JUP community. Some users suggest directly distributing protocol revenue to stakers to increase JUP staking yields, thereby enhancing holding appeal. One community member estimated that approximately 753 million JUP are currently staked, and if related rewards are distributed to stakers, the potential return per JUP could approach $0.09, with an annualized yield exceeding 40%, which could support the price.

However, Ong is cautious about this approach, believing that if all resources are used for staking rewards, product innovation and ecosystem expansion for Jupiter might be limited. Analyst Fabiano also pointed out that JUP is not equivalent to protocol equity, and the token’s correlation with Jupiter’s success is limited, making simple buybacks insufficient to support long-term value. He suggests that sharing rewards with stakers in the short term might help alleviate cyclical selling pressure.

From an industry perspective, buybacks are not a panacea. Even Pump.fun’s large-scale buybacks resulted in lackluster token performance; however, in a positive market environment, mechanisms like Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Aave (AAVE) have seen positive feedback from buybacks. This indicates that the effectiveness of buybacks heavily depends on market conditions and tokenomics design.

Currently, the Jupiter team has not made a final decision. As Jupiter expands from a DEX aggregator to a DeFi super app covering lending, prediction markets, and perpetual contracts, its cumulative revenue has reached $369 million. Whether the JUP buyback plan will be terminated and how future value capture mechanisms are designed will be key variables influencing JUP’s long-term trajectory.