There is an obvious trend recently: more and more Crypto projects have begun to buy back Tokens.
In the past, most of the money earned from the protocol was kept in the treasury, and the Token was more about governance and incentives; now more and more projects are beginning to do repurchase, destruction, pledge sharing, and even directly distribute part of the income to the Holder.
But the same is called "income sharing", but the difference is actually very big. Some are real repurchases and real destruction, some are just buying the coins back to the treasury; some are automatically executed, and some require the decision of the team or DAO and may be adjusted at any time.
Therefore, this article will sort out a number of typical projects to see how they make money, how the money is divided, and how much the Token can really get in the end.
1. Hyperliquid @HyperliquidX｜XHunt Ranking: 171
Hyperliquid's revenue mainly comes from spot and perpetual contract transaction fees, with annual fees exceeding US$1 billion used for programmatic repurchase of HYPE.
Part of the handling fees entering the Assistance Fund will be automatically converted into HYPE, and the HYPE bought back will be directly destroyed and permanently removed from the circulation and total supply.
Repurchase ratio: 99% Transaction fee
Repurchase method: Automatic
Whether to destroy: ✅
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token income source: Buyback + Burn
2. PUMP@Pumpfun｜XHunt Ranking: 296
On PumpSwap, each transaction currently charges about 1.25% handling fee, part of which is given to LP/Creator, and the remaining part forms platform revenue; in addition, Pump.fun's Bonding Curve, Terminal and other products will also contribute revenue.
Currently, the platform will use 50% of revenue to repurchase PUMP, and the purchased PUMP will be directly and permanently destroyed.
Buyback ratio: 50% Revenue
Repurchase method: Programmatic
Whether to destroy: ✅
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token income source: Buyback + Burn
3. UNI @Uniswap｜XHunt Ranking: 60
At the end of 2025, Uniswap officially opened Protocol Fee, and part of the transaction fee entered TokenJar. Then, through the Firepit mechanism, the assets accumulated in the protocol were exchanged for UNI, and the corresponding UNI was permanently destroyed.
Taking the most classic V2 as an example, each Swap charges 0.30%. After the Protocol Fee is turned on, 0.05% is given to the protocol and 0.25% is given to the LP. V3 charges according to the Fee Tier of different pools, and the Protocol Fee also changes with the pool configuration.
Buyback ratio: Depends on the Protocol Fee of different versions and pools
Repurchase method: Permissionless, market active arbitrage execution
Whether to destroy: ✅
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token income source: Protocol Fees → UNI Burn
4. SKY @SkyEcosystem｜XHunt Ranking: 301
Sky's revenue mainly comes from USDS-related credit, mortgage lending, Sky Agent's use of funds, Treasury strategies, Peg Stability Module, etc.
About 55% of the current protocol surplus is used to repurchase SKY and 45% is used for Staking Rewards; in addition, Treasury will also destroy part of SKY based on governance decisions.
Buyback ratio: Current 55%
Repurchase method: Programmed, governance adjustment parameters
Whether to destroy: ✅ Some will Burn
Whether to distribute to Holder: ✅ Staker
Token income source: Buyback + Burn + Staking Rewards
5. AAVE @aave｜XHunt Ranking: 221
Borrowers pay interest to the fund provider, part of which is left to the protocol through the Reserve Factor of each asset; in addition, Aave can also draw Protocol Fees from liquidation bonuses.
AAVE repurchase adopts the DAO budget system. The current annual budget is about 50 million US dollars, and approximately 250,000 to 1.75 million US dollars of AAVE will be purchased every week depending on market conditions.
The AAVE bought back will enter the DAO Ecosystem Reserve, and can continue to be used for Staking Rewards, Grant, service provider expenses, etc.
Repurchase ratio: No fixed revenue ratio, based on budget
Repurchase method: DAO authorization + committee execution
Whether to destroy: ❌
Whether to distribute it to Holder: ❌, Staking Reward belongs to another set of mechanisms
Token income source: Treasury Buyback + Staking Utility
6. JUP @JupiterExchange｜XHunt Ranking: 339
Jupiter's revenue comes from multiple products such as Swap, Perps, Limit/Recurring, Lending, etc. Different products charge different transaction or service fees.
Currently, about 50% of Protocol Revenue is used to repurchase JUP. The purchased JUP is mainly locked in Litterbox for a long time and is not automatically destroyed.
Buyback ratio: 50% Protocol Revenue
Repurchase method: Programmatic
Whether to burn: ❌ The current continuous repurchase is not automatic Burn
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token income source: Buyback + Lock
7. Ethena @ethena｜XHunt Ranking: 488
Ethena's income mainly comes from ETH Staking Yield, perpetual contract Funding/Basis, and stablecoin asset income. It does not make money from single transaction fees.
The new Fee Switch will gradually capture 5% to 20% of Gross Revenue based on the scale of USDe, most of which will be used to repurchase ENA; however, it currently needs to reach the corresponding USDe supply threshold before it will be activated.
Repurchase ratio: 5% to 20% of Gross Revenue, triggered in stages
Repurchase method: conditional triggering + regularization
Whether to destroy: ❌ There is currently no unified automatic Burn
Whether to distribute to Holder: ❌ sENA distribution mechanism is discussed separately.
Token income source: Conditional Buyback
8. MORPHO@Morpho｜XHunt Ranking: 1199
Morpho mainly generates revenue from lending and Vault businesses. Vault can charge Performance Fee and Management Fee, and the protocol also reserves a Protocol Fee Switch.
But at present, these revenues will not be returned to MORPHO on a regular basis. Tokens are mainly used for governance and incentives.
However, the core contract reserves a Fee Switch, which can be turned on in the future to extract up to 25% of the loan interest and specify the income receiving address.
Buyback ratio: 0
Buyback method: None
Whether to destroy: ❌
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token income source: Governance + Incentives
9. PONS @ponsdotfamily｜XHunt Ranking: 3685
The current Pool Fee for Pons Launch Token is 1%, of which 70% goes to Creator and 30% belongs to Protocol.
Of the 30% obtained through the agreement, 80% will be used to repurchase PONS, and 20% will be used for the team and infrastructure. Currently, the team triggers the repurchase, and then automatically executes it through TWAP, and the purchased PONS are directly destroyed.
Buyback ratio: 80% Protocol Fees
Repurchase method: manual trigger + automatic TWAP
Whether to destroy: ✅
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token income source: Buyback + Burn
10.PancakeSwap @PancakeSwap｜XHunt Ranking: 1115
PancakeSwap's income comes from multiple products such as Spot, Perps, Prediction, Lottery, CAKE.PAD, etc. Different businesses use different proportions of income for CAKE Burn.
For example, Spot will take part of the Trading Fees, Perps will take part of the profits, and CAKE.PAD will directly use the Fees for destruction. At the same time, CAKE still has ecological incentive issuance, so what really needs to be seen is whether Burn is greater than Emission in the long term.
Repurchase ratio: different for each product
Repurchase method: regularization + regular execution
Whether to destroy: ✅
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token income source: Buyback + Burn + Net Deflation
11.PENDLE @pendle_fi｜XHunt Ranking: 1054
Pendle mainly relies on YT Yield Fee and Swap Fee to make money, of which YT will charge about 5% revenue handling fee, and Swap Fee changes according to market dynamics.
After deducting the handling fee and LP share, 80% of the remaining distributable income is used to repurchase PENDLE. The protocol collects funds every two weeks and continues to buy them through TWAP. The purchased PENDLEs are eventually distributed to active sPENDLE Holders.
Buyback ratio: 80% of allocable Protocol Fees
Buyback method: Programmatic TWAP
Whether to destroy: ❌
Whether to assign to Holder: ✅ sPENDLE
Token income source: Buyback + Distribution
12.Raydium @Raydium｜XHunt Ranking: 970
Raydium mainly relies on DEX Swap Fee to make money. Different Pools have different handling rates. For example, traditional AMM V4 charges approximately 0.25% per transaction.
A fixed 12% of Trading Fees are used to repurchase RAY, and the remainder is mainly given to LP and Treasury. The repurchase is continuously executed through the script, but the RAY bought back will not be destroyed, but will be held by the protocol address.
Buyback ratio: 12% Trading Fees
Repurchase method: programmatic
Whether to destroy: ❌
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token income source: Treasury Buyback
13.ETHFI @ether_fi｜XHunt Ranking: 1032
Ether.fi's income comes from Staking, Vault, Withdrawal, Cash and other products. For example, eETH Fast Withdrawal will charge a withdrawal fee of about 0.3%.
ETHFI currently has multiple buyback mechanisms, including using part of Protocol Revenue to buy back ETHFI, and using Withdrawal Revenue to buy ETHFI. Part of the purchased ETHFI will be directly distributed to Staker instead of being destroyed.
Buyback ratio: Multiple mechanisms, some of which are 5% Revenue
Repurchase method: DAO authorization + monthly execution
Whether to destroy: not the core mechanism
Whether to distribute to Holder: ✅ ETHFI Staker
Token income source: Buyback + Distribution + Staking
14.ASTER @Aster_DEX｜XHunt Ranking: 915
Aster mainly makes money from Perps and Spot transaction fees. For example, the Maker of some Perps products is 0 and the Taker is about 0.04%.
Currently, 99% of Daily Platform Fees will automatically repurchase ASTER through TWAP, and the purchased coins will be distributed to veASTER Staker; at the same time, Reserve will also destroy the same amount of ASTER as the repurchase amount.
Buyback ratio: 99% Daily Platform Fees
Buyback method: Automatic TWAP
Whether to burn: ✅ Equivalent Reserve Burn
Whether to assign to Holder: ✅ veASTER
Token income source: Buyback Distribution + Matching Burn
15. Jupiter @JupiterExchange｜XHunt Ranking: 339
Jupiter has expanded from a simple Swap Aggregator to multiple products such as Perps, Lending, Limit/Recurring, and Mobile. Each business line will contribute different fee income.
These revenues are eventually aggregated to Jupiter Business. Currently, about 50% of Protocol Revenue is used to purchase JUP, and the purchased JUP is locked in Litterbox for a long time.
Buyback ratio: 50% Protocol Revenue
Repurchase method: Programmatic
Whether to destroy: ❌
Whether to assign to Holder: ❌
Token revenue source: Multi-product Revenue → Buyback + Lock
write at the end
Finally, let me educate you on the difference between Fee and Revenue. Sometimes, higher income from the agreement ≠ higher dividends.
Just because a protocol generates $100 million in fees a year doesn’t mean it actually makes $100 million. The middle may first be divided among LPs, Creators, market makers, front-end channels, and rebate users. What is really left in the agreement is called Revenue.
This is especially true for trading applications. Even if the front-end fees of FOMO are very high, a large amount of income may be diverted by the rebate system. Therefore, large fees do not mean that the agreement is profitable.
Going one level further down, the money earned by the protocol is not equal to the money earned by the Token.
Some protocols will take 50% of the revenue to repurchase, and some will only take 10%; some will burn it directly after the repurchase, some will put it into the Treasury, and some will then distribute it to Staker. On the surface, everyone calls it "buyback", but the actual value capture of Holder is completely different.
In addition, the repurchase mechanism itself is also different: automatic repurchase continues to be executed according to established rules, with higher certainty; manual/DAO repurchase may be adjusted, suspended or even canceled.
Of course, the additional issuance and unlocking of project tokens must also be calculated. Sometimes there are many repurchases, but more tokens are unlocked at the same time. In the end, the holder may still be diluted.