Jupiter Change’s $70 million buyback marketing campaign in 2025 did not cease the relentless downward stress on its JUP token, which continues to face $1.2 billion in upcoming unlocks.
The token has fallen 89% from its peak, highlighting the restrictions of standard buyback methods in a market characterised by important emissions, ongoing unlocks, and structural promoting stress.
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Jupiter Faces Backlash as $70 Million Buybacks Fail Towards $1.2 Billion Token Unlocks
Founder Siong sparked group debate when he advised pausing the JUP buybacks to redirect funds towards progress incentives.
“We spent greater than $70 million on buybacks final 12 months, and the value clearly didn’t transfer a lot,” he wrote on X. “We are able to use the $70 million to offer out for progress incentives for current and new customers. Ought to we do it?”
His proposal aimed to fund rewards for energetic customers and subsidies for newcomers, shifting the main target from defensive market assist to ecosystem enlargement.
Group reactions have been divided. Some argued that buybacks are ineffective beneath heavy unlock stress, whereas others warned that halting them may exacerbate value declines.
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The restricted affect of Jupiter’s buybacks, protecting solely about 6% of unlocked tokens, highlights the problem. With month-to-month unlocks of 53 million JUP scheduled by way of June 2026, the token’s circulating provide has elevated by roughly 150% since launch. That is regardless of three-year lockups of 100 million tokens.
Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko supplied a possible path ahead. He advised storing earnings as future claimable property and providing one-year staking rewards to long-term holders
Based on the Solana govt, this strategy would align token costs throughout unlocks with the anticipated post-buyback worth.
“Let individuals lockup and stake for a 12 months to get a token yield. In order the stability sheet grows those that stake internet an even bigger declare,” he added.
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His mannequin emphasizes capital formation over short-term buybacks, aiming to increase the utility cycle of funds and strengthen token worth anchoring.
Helium and Jupiter Spotlight the Limits of Standard Buybacks
The controversy over buybacks extends past Jupiter DEX. Helium just lately suspended its HNT repurchase program after the market confirmed minimal response. As a substitute, the community selected to allocate sources towards consumer progress, together with increasing Helium Cellular subscribers and community hotspots.
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Critics of buybacks argue that in ecosystems the place tokens are considered as utility vouchers slightly than fairness, repurchases create solely short-term optical results and fail when structural promoting stress dominates.
Solana’s internalized ecosystem additional complicates issues. Frequent group unlocks, insider prioritization, and excessive emissions frequently offset repurchase efforts.
Group members have identified that these structural points, slightly than the mechanism of buybacks itself, are the principle motive defensive methods usually fail. Others argue that dynamic approaches, together with staking-based rewards or valuation-driven buybacks, could supply a more practical resolution.
The problem for Jupiter stays balancing short-term value assist with long-term ecosystem progress. Whereas $70 million in buybacks was inadequate to stabilize the token, Yakovenko’s proposals level to a future the place long-term capital formation and staking incentives could higher align consumer incentives with sustainable token worth.