Buyback programs are facing serious scrutiny right now.

Helium recently shut down its repurchase initiative after investing $2.3M into HNT tokens since October rolled around. Their take? The math just wasn't working—funds weren't being deployed efficiently.

Here's where it gets interesting: the performance data tells a pretty harsh story. Most tokens with active buyback mechanisms have still tanked between 44% and 85% since launch. That's basically tracking with the wider altcoin selloff.

It raises a tough question for projects thinking about going down this route. When you're spending serious capital on buybacks but still watching your token crater alongside the rest of the market, something's gotta give. Helium apparently decided that capital would be better spent elsewhere. Whether that's the right call depends on what they do with those resources next.