Ansem: Buybacks are essentially useless; intangible value is more important than tangible value

Odaily Planet Daily News: Well-known trader Ansem posted on X, stating that buybacks (for token prices) are essentially useless.

Ansem further stated 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 use a portion of their business profits for buybacks, yet their P/S ratios are vastly different.

This gap is not about how much revenue the business actually generates, but reflects the market's "trust premium" in the team — a trust determined by their actions and decisions in the market. Hyperliquid never over-promises, focuses solely on product delivery, and generously rewards core users who contribute the most to the platform based on defined metrics. In contrast, Pump.fun earned $1 billion in revenue, raised another $1 billion in an ICO, and promised users an airdrop but has yet to deliver. Despite being one of the most successful and profitable businesses in the crypto industry, they lack a social consensus bond with their core user base and therefore cannot command the trust premium like Hyperliquid.

Therefore, what determines a business's valuation includes not only the "tangible value" composed purely of revenue and other metrics, but also "intangible value." Trust, memetics, and attention are all crucial in the market, yet they are currently discussed far too little.