Deflation On February 17, 2026, HyperCore repurchased 44,830 HYPE at an average price of about $29.93 On the same day: 26,877 HYPE were distributed as rewards to stakers and 24 validators Net Effect 44,830 − 26,877 = 17,953 HYPE ➡️ Net tokens permanently removed from circulation Deflation at This Pace Daily: 17,953 HYPE Monthly: 538,590 HYPE Yearly: ~6,463,080 HYPE Context: L1 Comparison For comparison, Solana inflates by approximately 25.19M SOL per year through staking and validator rewards. Hyperliquid, by contrast, is operating in net deflation, not inflation. Buyback Dynamics Buyback efficiency is price-sensitive: Higher HYPE price → fewer tokens repurchased Lower HYPE price → more aggressive buybacks This naturally stabilizes supply pressure across market cycles. Flywheel Effect More HIP-3 adoption → higher trading activity → more protocol revenue → larger buybacks Hyperliquid!