Crypto Analyst Ansem Questions Token Buybacks as Trust Drives Valuations

Crypto trader Ansem argued that recurring token buybacks do not by themselves determine market valuations. He contrasted Hyperliquid’s HYPE token, which trades at a fully‑diluted market cap of about $65 billion on roughly $800 million of annualized revenue, with Pump.fun’s PUMP token, valued at about $1.4 billion FDV on roughly $440 million (about $1 billion total) of revenue.

Ansem said the valuation gap reflects a “trust premium” tied to community alignment and delivery of promised airdrops. Pump.fun’s delayed airdrop and weaker user communication have kept its price low, and he suggested that fulfilling the airdrop could lift PUMP 10‑15 times. He noted Hyperliquid’s $1.3 billion token‑repurchase program as a large buyback effort that still did not equalize valuations. “I have a thesis that buybacks don’t actually work,” Ansem wrote.