Jupiter (JUP) Defies Market Downtrend as Solana-Based DEX Aggregator Unveils Buyback Plan

Data from TradingView shows that JUP is up more than 34% against bitcoin over the past week despite seeing an 11% decline over the last 24 hours

Solana (SOL)-based decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator Jupiter (JUP) is seeing its native token buck the market trend with a price surge of over 34% against BTC over the past week, despite seeing an 11% decline over the last 24 hours.

The token’s price increase comes amid a seven-day decline of nearly 4% for BTC and follows a series of announcements made during Jupiter’s first-ever event, Catstanbul 2025.

The event saw the protocol’s pseudonymous founder, known as ‘Meow,’ reveal that 50% of all protocol fees will be used to buy JUP tokens from the open market, which will then be moved to a “long-term litterbox,” a long-term reserve.

The move is set to see a portion of the protocol’s revenue used to increase the demand for its token, which could lead to a price increase.

According to Bitget Research’s Chief Analyst, Ryan Lee, the buyback program could “act as a catalyst for long-term growth as the team estimates it could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the buyback volume per year.”

“The buyback program is a significant announcement that could have a positive impact on JUP's price in the long term,” Lee told CoinDesk in a statement.

“However, it's important to note that the price is also influenced by various other factors, including the overall market conditions, supply and demand dynamics, and any regulatory developments.”

Jupiter is Solana’s leading DEX aggregator, having facilitated nearly $2.2 trillion in total volume over 1.25 billion token swaps, according to data from Dune Analytics.

In the last 24 hours, its trading volume was $6.5 billion over 6.9 million swaps.

The announcement is also set to see the launch of Jupnet, described as an omnichain network designed “to aggregate all of crypto in one single decentralized ledger for maximum ease of use for users and developers.”

Its public beta version is coming in the next few months.

While the announcement may have helped JUP’s price surge, it drew some concerns from the community.

Chung wrote in an emailed statement to CoinDesk that the “news over the weekend that Jupiter – Solana’s most used DEX – is implementing a 5bps fee for basic swap trades in its default 'Ultra' mode is disappointing news for traders.”

Jupiter’s Ultra mode is set to include features such as real-time slippage estimation, dynamic priority fees, and optimized transaction landing, all bolstered by a new “Jupiter Shield” security tool.

According to Bitget Research’s Lee, the protocol’s success “may come with the risk of centralization.”

“If Jupiter continues to increase its influence and become the dominant player in the Solana ecosystem, it could lead to over-reliance on a single project,” Lee told CoinDesk, adding that the “situation is contrary to the principles of blockchain which are aimed at decentralization and distribution of influence.”

“This could be a point of concern for those who value the decentralized nature of crypto and DeFi,” Lee said.

“On the other hand, a leading project can also attract more attention and drive further development within the ecosystem, which ultimately benefits users and the broader crypto community.”

According to Chung, Solana’s “entire value proposition is lower cost and higher throughout, and a 5-10bps increase in trading costs is significant in this context. But it’s particularly disappointing when a paid model is being implemented when there is no perceivable performance gain over the previous free version, especially when the features in question are essential in landing transactions.”

“It feels like a shakedown, especially when you consider that the swap fee revenue (even at 2bps) is already astronomical and more than sufficient to cover the costs of these features (which should have been included to begin with),” Chung added.

“This is especially true when you consider that the swap fee revenue is being used to fund Jupiter's buyback program (which will drive up the price of JUP token) and to acquire Moonshot (a memecoin CEX) and SonarWatch (an on-chain portfolio tracker).”

Chung went on to state that Jupiter is “clearly looking to dominate the entire Solana ecosystem,” in a move that's both “unhealthy and detrimental for innovation and for the user experience.”

“Isn't the whole point of DeFi to get rid of the middleman and predatory behavior? To Chung's founder, Jupiter's moves amount to “monopolistic behavior” that allows incumbents to “raise prices further and further in absence of competition,” the type of behavior that decentralized finance was meant to eradicate.