The JUP buyback strategy is in question as Jupiter's co-founder calls for a review of capital allocation

Siong Ong, co-founder of Jupiter, has publicly questioned the effectiveness of the JUP token buyback strategy, sparking new debates around capital allocation and the sustainability of tokenomics. According to him, throughout 2025, Jupiter spent over $70 million on JUP buybacks, even allocating up to 50% of protocol fees to repurchase and lock tokens, but the JUP price has hardly improved. Currently, the token is still trading approximately 89% below its all-time high of $1.83.

Siong believes that these resources could be more effectively used to attract users, increase retention incentives, and expand the ecosystem, rather than passively supporting the price. He also called on the community to consider temporarily halting buybacks to focus on building long-term value for the network.

This debate occurs amid Jupiter’s adjustments to its tokenomics, including reducing the JUP airdrop size and burning 130 million tokens, while the product continues to grow strongly with Jup Lend surpassing $1.5 billion in TVL.