Buyback Radar

Chainlink LINK

ExpensiveRank#45▲1Score27

152× vs 20.2× for all tokens: 7.5× the median.

Services, Ethereum, BSC, OP Mainnet +3, 189 days of data

Market cap

$7.66B

price $9.89 · 7d −13.9% · 30d −21.6%

FDV $9.91B (1.3× market cap)

source defillama

Buyback revenue / year

$50.4M

bought back on-chain over the measured window, per year: lower than the $55.2M DefiLlama counts, so the measured amount is used

Buybackbuyback share 100%

Buys back 0.7% of its market cap a year (measured on-chain), using 100¢ of every $1 it earns.

Pays every ~7 days; next ~Nov 12. A week without a payout is normal for this token; holders revenue is measured over a whole cycle.

Multiple

152×

median of all tokens 20.2×, against 152× here

Run-rate

159×

last 7 days $1.0M × 52 × 0.91 (on-chain cap) = $48.2M a year

last week's payout in line with the 30-day pace

What we checked

  1. Valuation

    Multiple 152× (on the amount measured on-chain), 7.5× more expensive than the median of all tokens (20.2×; its category is too small for a peer group). The group's largest earner Hyperliquid trades at 20.2×: 7.5× dearer per dollar returned to holders. On total revenue: 147×, 1.8× dearer than the revenue peer median.

  2. Distribution

    Buyback: Revenue buys the token on the market; the tokens stay in circulation (treasury, stakers or LPs). Holders got $5.3M of $5.3M revenue in 35 days (whole payout cycles, the window the multiple uses) → buyback share 100%. DefiLlama: “Token Buy Back: LINK token buybacks funded via revenue from various offchain and onchain sources”

  3. Sustainability

    Holders were paid on 5 days in the last 35 days, against the ~5 payouts its cycle predicts (100%) (pays every ~7 days; next ~Nov 12); largest single day 21% of the 35-day holders revenue; paid to holders over the last 35 days: 92% of the best 35-day stretch in 90 days. Revenue −8% over 7 days and −2% over 30 days, price −22% over 30 days.

What this does not tell you

The figures come from DefiLlama's adapter for each child protocol. Only a few tokens have an on-chain check (see How the buyback really works); for the rest, whether the tokens were really bought, burned or parked in a treasury wallet is not checked here. Unlocks count where DefiLlama or our research has a vesting schedule; team discretion and liquidity depth only once researched.

Flags

  • Pays every ~7 daysPays every ~7 days; next ~Nov 12. A week without a payout is normal for this token, not a stop. Holders revenue is measured over 35 days so a full cycle fits.
  • Small peer group51 peers in universe; median taken from the universe level
  • Data issue: chain mapping missingData issue (chain mapping missing): warning, scores are computed as usual

How the buyback really works

Researched Nov 1, 2026 · 3 wallets: 1 high, 2 medium confidence

  1. The moneyPaid from ongoing revenue
  2. The buyerPartly automatic, partly up to the team
  3. The tokensBought tokens go to the treasury (not burned, not paid out)

The project does not say what share of its revenue goes to buybacks; DefiLlama books 100% of its revenue as holders revenue.

On-chain: $4.1M bought back over 30 days = 97% of what DefiLlama reports for the same days.

A recomputation with DefiLlama’s own method: it confirms DefiLlama’s figure on-chain, not an independent count.

Method: Etherscan v2 getLogs: LINK from the Payment Abstraction layer 0x5680… into the Chainlink Reserve 0x9A70… (DefiLlama method). Checked November 12, 2026.

Red flags 4

  • Nothing is burned or distributed: the LINK stays in a treasury contract with a timelock. Chainlink expects 'no withdrawals ... for multiple years', but withdrawals are technically possible.
  • A large share comes from off-chain enterprise revenue. How much is converted is decided and reported by Chainlink itself; it cannot be traced on-chain back to revenue.
  • No percentage of total revenue has been committed. Only for staking-secured SVR fees does the blog mention 50% 'planned' for the Reserve.
  • Sales of LINK from non-circulating supply by Chainlink itself can cancel out the net supply effect.
Buyback wallets 3
Sources 6

Open the buyback wallets in their explorer and look for regular purchases of the token.

Check it yourself (technical)

Etherscan v2 (chainid=1) module=account&action=tokentx&contractaddress=0x514910771AF9Ca656af840dff83E8264EcF986CA&address=0x9A709B7B69EA42D5eeb1ceBC48674C69E1569eC6. Sum the incoming LINK transfers from 0x5680681E... to the Reserve over the last 30 days; this is also the DefiLlama method (addTokensReceived with fromAddressFilter=paymentLayer). An alternative without an API key is Blockscout /api/v2/addresses/0x9A70.../token-transfers. Also check outgoing transfers. Checked for 1–29 Oct 2026: 5 (weekly) inflows from 0x5680, together about 427,578 LINK, and no outflows. USD value = LINK amount x price at transaction time.

Holders revenue / revenue (35d)
$5.3M / $5.3M
last 35 days, whole payout cycles
To holders
Buys back 0.7% of its market cap a year (measured on-chain)
FDV / dilution
$9.91B / 1.3×
FDV ÷ market cap
Price 7d / 30d
−13.9% / −21.6%
Revenue growth 7d / 30d
−8% / −2%
versus the period before
Divergence
0.00
revenue growth minus price growth, 30d
DEX liquidity
$30.7M
DexScreener, representative pools
24h volume
$259.3M
all markets, CoinGecko
Unlocks 30d
—
DefiLlama's schedule does not cover the next 30 days while tokens are still locked
Revenue multiple
147×
market cap ÷ revenue per year
Fee multiple
141×
market cap ÷ fees per year
Distance to peak
92%
last 35 days ÷ best 35 days of 90 days
Data since
May 7
first day with holders revenue

Holders revenue and price

Holders revenue per day7-day averagePrice (right axis)▲ ▼ signal days (history below)

Multiple over time

today 152× (scored) · peer median 20.2×

Market cap at close ÷ (holders revenue of the previous 30 days × 365 ÷ 30), with holders revenue capped at revenue and × the type factor: the same effective multiple as the peer median. Values above 100× are drawn at the top. Bands as on the meter; dashed line = peer median today.

Signal history

Signal history of this token: date, type, price at the signal, price after 7 and 30 days, change since the signal and the outcome
DateSignalPrice thenAfter 7dAfter 30dSinceOutcome
November 6, 2026New in top 20closed Nov 7: now ranked #30$10.83——−9%30-day check: day 6
November 6, 2026Day jumpclosed Nov 7: REV $0 on 2026-11-06 below 1.5 × the old average $157k$10.86——−9%30-day check: day 6

Versus peers

universe (whole universe) · 52 tokens (51 with a multiple) · median multiple 20.2× · Hyperliquid is valued 2.2× higher. Per dollar that counts for holders, Chainlink is 7.5× dearer.

Main-ranking peers only. Multiples count holders revenue capped at revenue, × the type factor (buyback 1 · buyback + burn 1 · burn 0.75 · mixed 0.75 · distribution 0.5 · unclear 0.5 · ve-distribution 0.25).

This token against its main-ranking peers: multiple, revenue multiple, buyback share, holders revenue, market cap and revenue growth
TokenDistributionMultipleRevenue multipleBuyback shareTo holders 30dMarket capRev. growth 30d
PaperStrategyBuyback + burn0.2×0.1×42%$780k$1.9M+17%
Pharaoh Exchangeve / bribes0.3×0.2×100%$1.3M$2.6M−52%
OTCBuyback + burn0.5×0.2×43%$292k$1.9M+111%
RamsesXMixed0.7×0.5×97%$368k$2.2M+8%
nestDistribution0.8×0.4×100%$869k$4.4M+32%
SaplingBuyback + burn0.9×0.7×82%$100k$1.1M−30%
ORE ProtocolBuyback + burn1.0×1.0×99%$4.3M$51.7M+37%
StonkFunBuyback + burn1.7×1.0×60%$1.7M$34.5M−88%
upve / bribes2.0×1.0×100%$313k$3.9M−68%
Fake World AssetsBuyback + burn2.4×1.7×80%$149k$3.9M−70%
THORSwapMixed3.7×2.1×75%$312k$10.4M+55%
MarinadeBuyback5.1×2.5×50%$193k$11.9M−13%
ChainflipBuyback + burn5.4×5.4×100%$520k$34.4M+59%
PonsBuyback + burn5.7×5.7×118%$1.7M$99.8M−84%
PumpBuyback5.8×2.6×44%$21.9M$1.54B−24%
UsualMixed6.3×3.3×70%$378k$21.6M+80%
Aerove / bribes8.7×4.0×96%$7.4M$372.0M−6%
Tornado CashMixed9.6×7.2×100%$278k$24.4M−21%
SSV NetworkMixed12.4×9.3×100%$275k$31.1M−10%
SparkBuyback13.0×3.7×29%$340k$53.8M+133%
LighterBuyback14.6×11.8×81%$4.4M$775.1M+14%
edgeXBuyback16.0×7.0×44%$622k$120.8M−43%
LidoBuyback18.6×6.2×34%$0$255.2M+6%
GeodnetBuyback + burn18.8×15.1×80%$744k$170.5M0%
PancakeSwapBuyback + burn19.5×12.8×65%$2.4M$563.6M−29%
HyperliquidleaderBuyback + burn20.2×20.2×100%$68.8M$16.94B−3%
BankrDistribution20.3×8.8×86%$237k$25.1M−85%
deBridgeBuyback20.8×15.6×75%$340k$86.1M−13%
ApeX ProtocolMixed21.2×15.9×100%$145k$28.2M−21%
Yield Basisve / bribes22.1×7.8×100%$148k$14.0M41.0×
SkyMixed26.7×8.4×42%$5.5M$1.34B−3%
RaydiumBuyback27.1×16.8×62%$1.3M$425.4M−65%
Curve Financeve / bribes29.3×11.1×94%$2.6M$374.4M+44%
Collector CryptBuyback + burn35.3×0.9×3%$392k$168.2M−5%
GMXDistribution37.0×13.5×73%$354k$79.6M+15%
Maple FinanceBuyback37.2×7.4×20%$326k$147.5M+14%
UniswapBuyback + burn37.3×37.3×100%$8.2M$3.71B−20%
Convex Financeve / bribes47.5×13.8×95%$881k$155.5M0%
OrcaBuyback47.8×7.9×16%$130k$75.6M−36%
AsterBuyback + burn50.2×∞—$2.8M$1.69B—
JupiterBuyback50.2×15.9×32%$1.4M$856.4M−32%
dYdXDistribution51.6×25.8×100%$240k$75.2M−15%
VeniceBuyback + burn68.7×68.7×100%$1.1M$941.4M+22%
KinetiqMixed84.8×37.3×59%$133k$103.2M−37%
RailgunDistribution86.5×28.1×66%$202k$116.7M−9%
Pendleve / bribes104×37.2×72%$411k$260.0M+39%
Render Network BMEBurn122×86.6×95%$751k$832.8M+240%
Chainlinkthis tokenBuyback152×147×100%$4.3M$7.66B−2%
MeteoraDistribution180×5.2×18%$458k$161.9M−60%
NEAR ProtocolBuyback206×194×94%$1.8M$4.51B−18%
LiquityDistribution1.2k×8.2×80%$128k$15.8M+409%
BONK.funMixed∞11.7×95%$1.5M$233.7M−67%
Score build-up27 of 100

Total score = 35% valuation + 25% momentum + 20% divergence + 20% quality − penalties, clamped to 0–100. Every number here can be recomputed from the figures on this page.

27of 100#45▲1top 88%
Valuation 4.0Momentum 3.7Divergence 0.0Quality 19.1= 26.8
Valuation35%
11Valuation 11.5: HR half 0.0 (multiple 151.93×; 100 at ≤3×, 0 at ≥100×, log scale), revenue half 22.9 (revenue peer value 0.55×; 0 at ≤0.33×, 50 at 1×, 100 at ≥3×, log scale).Average of two halves. HR half: linear in log(multiple), 100 at ≤ 3×, 0 at ≥ 100×, 0 without effective HR. Revenue half: linear in log(revenue peer value), 0 at ≤ 0.33×, 50 at 1×, 100 at ≥ 3×; neutral 50 when the peer group falls back to the universe.
Momentum25%
15Momentum 14.7: m = 0.5·g7 −0.081 + 0.3·(ln(day jump 0.00) clamped ±1.5 = −1.500) + 0.2·g30 −0.017 = −0.494; 0 at ≤−0.7, 50 at 0, 100 at ≥1.1.m = 0.5·g7 + 0.3·ln(day jump, clamped ±1.5) + 0.2·g30; 0 at m ≤ −0.7, 50 at 0, 100 at ≥ 1.1. Neutral 50 when g7 or g30 is missing; a missing day jump counts as 0.
Divergence20%
0Divergence 0.0: d = g30 − p30 = 0.000; 0 at ≤0, 100 at ≥1.5.d = max(0, g30 − p30) when g30 > 0; 0 at d ≤ 0, 100 at d ≥ 1.5, linear.
Quality20%
96Quality 95.6: mean of days HR>0 100% → 100.0 (0 at ≤30%, 100 at ≥90%), largest day 21% of HR30 → 86.8 (0 at ≥60%, 100 at ≤15%), distance to peak 0.92 → 100.0 (0 at ≤0.25, 100 at ≥0.9).Average of: share of days with HR > 0 (0 at ≤ 30%, 100 at ≥ 90%), 1 − largest day ÷ HR30 (0 at ≥ 60%, 100 at ≤ 15%) and distance to peak (0 at ≤ 0.25, 100 at ≥ 0.9).

Penaltiesnone

No penalty applies — 10 rules checked, 3 wait for research data

Where the numbers come from
Revenue source
2 active children
DefiLlama adapter per child
Price and market cap
defillama / defillama
latest fetch
Scored on
November 11, 2026
as-of date of the last compute run
On-chain verified
yes
checked Nov 12
Protocols behind this token2 at DefiLlama

Per protocol: DefiLlama's methodology text, the distribution type we read from it and the sentence that decided it. The token takes the type of the protocol that returns the most to holders.

  • Chainlink Staking
    Services · Ethereum
    type buyback · source label
    “Token Buy Back: LINK token buybacks funded via revenue from various offchain and onchain sources”

    LINK token buybacks funded via revenue from various offchain and onchain sources

    Token Buy Back
    LINK token buybacks funded via revenue from various offchain and onchain sources
    adapter on GitHub ↗
  • Chainlink Requests
    Oracle · BSC, OP Mainnet, Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, Arbitrum
    type unclear · source none

    No methodology text at DefiLlama.

    adapter on GitHub ↗