Hyperliquid and Pump.fun both generate millions in revenue, but their valuations tell a different story. Here's why trader Ansem says trust is the key.
Hyperliquid and Pump.fun have both built highly profitable crypto businesses and spend millions buying back their native tokens. Yet HYPE commands a fully diluted valuation of around $65 billion, while PUMP sits near $1.4 billion. Crypto trader Ansem believes the answer lies beyond revenue or buybacks.
The discussion began after crypto trader Ansem challenged a common belief in crypto markets that regular token buybacks automatically lead to higher valuations.
Both Hyperliquid and Pump.fun use part of their platform revenue to repurchase their native tokens from the open market. Hyperliquid generates roughly $800 million in annualized revenue, while Pump.fun brings in about $440 million. Despite earning revenue that differs little, their market valuations remain worlds apart.
HYPE currently carries a fully diluted valuation of nearly $65 billion, compared with just $1.4 billion for PUMP.
For Ansem, that gap is too large to be explained by buybacks or revenue alone.
"I have a thesis that buybacks don't actually work."
He says that recurring token repurchases may reduce supply but do not automatically create lasting value.
According to Ansem, Hyperliquid's biggest advantage is something that cannot easily be measured on a balance sheet.
He believes the project has built a strong "trust premium" by consistently delivering products, avoiding unrealistic promises, and rewarding users based on clear, measurable activity on the platform.
Rather than relying on marketing campaigns, Hyperliquid focused on building its perpetual trading platform while aligning incentives with its most active users. Ansem said this approach has created strong confidence within the community, particularly around founder Jeff and the team's execution.
Hyperliquid also has one of crypto's largest buyback programs. Through its Assistance Fund, the protocol directs most of its fees toward buying HYPE from the open market. By May 2026, the fund had spent more than $1.3 billion on token buybacks.
Ansem believes the missing piece is community trust. He pointed to Pump.fun's long-promised user airdrop, which has yet to be delivered despite repeated discussions from the team.
Co-founder Alon Cohen said in 2025 that an airdrop was still planned but would not happen immediately.
According to Ansem, that delay weakened the platform's relationship with its core users.
He said that although Pump.fun has become one of crypto's most successful businesses, generating around $1 billion in cumulative revenue and raising another $1 billion through its token sales. The project has not achieved the same level of community alignment as Hyperliquid.
Nevertheless, Pump.fun has also committed significant resources to supporting PUMP. Likewise, the Solana-based memecoin launchpad has spent roughly $233 million buying back more than 62 billion PUMP tokens and later carried out a major token burn.
More recently, it increased its buyback program by directing 100% of its daily revenue toward purchasing PUMP, helping remove more than 6% of the circulating supply.
Despite these efforts, PUMP has struggled to achieve the same valuation as HYPE.
To support his argument, Ansem pointed to Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, as the biggest example of a 'Trust Premium’.
Unlike Hyperliquid or Pump.fun, Bitcoin generates no business revenue, it still has a market cap of $1.3 trillion. According to Ansem, that value comes from trust rather than earnings. Investors believe Bitcoin's supply will never exceed 21 million coins, and they trust the network to continue operating without interruption.
This means that long-term valuations are driven not only by financial performance but also by credibility, consistency, and investor confidence.
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