Ansem: Buybacks Are Actually Useless, Intangible Value Matters More Than Tangible Value

Odaily reported that well-known trader Ansem posted on X, stating that buybacks (for token prices) are actually not very effective.

Ansem further noted that Hyperliquid's annualized revenue is $800 million, while Pump.fun's annualized revenue is $440 million; however, HYPE's FDV is as high as $65 billion, while PUMP's FDV is only $1.4 billion. Both teams regularly conduct buybacks using a portion of their business profits, yet their Price-to-Sales (P/S) ratios are vastly different.

This gap is not determined by how much revenue the business actually generates, but rather reflects the market's "trust premium" for the team — a trust decided by their actions and decisions in the market. Hyperliquid never paints a rosy picture, focuses solely on product delivery, and generously rewards core users who contribute the most to the platform based on established metrics. On the other hand, Pump.fun generated $1 billion in revenue, raised another $1 billion in an ICO, promised users an airdrop, but has yet to deliver. Although they are one of the most successful and profitable businesses in the crypto industry, they lack a social consensus bond with their core user base, preventing them from earning the same trust premium as Hyperliquid.

Therefore, what determines a business's valuation, in addition to the "tangible value" composed purely of revenue and other metrics, is "intangible value." Trust, memetics, and attention are all crucial in the market but are currently discussed far too little.