The omnichain protocol’s ZRO buyback highlights a broader trend of crypto projects returning revenue to tokenholders.
LayerZero Labs, the team behind the omnichain interoperability protocol, disclosed on Thursday that it had purchased $10 million of its native token, ZRO, from the open market.
In a post on X, the company called ZRO “one of the most mispriced assets in the world” and said it plans to continue buying as opportunities arise. ZRO is trading at $1.73, up 11% in the past 24 hours, with a market capitalization of $194 million, according to CoinGecko.
ZRO Chart“We are living through a once-in-a-generation change in the financial system and LayerZero sits at the core of this transition to global-scale permissionless infrastructure,” the post reads.
LayerZero has a history of token buybacks. In September, the protocol said the LayerZero Foundation executed a buyback of 50 million ZRO – or 5% of the token’s total supply – from early investors. Following the announcement, ZRO rallied from near $1.82 to over $2.21 by Sept. 24.
LayerZero Labs’ ZRO purchase fits into a wider trend of crypto projects returning revenue to tokenholders through buybacks.
According to a recent report by investment firm Keyrock, buybacks and direct token distributions have grown more than fivefold since 2024, as protocols increasingly prioritize payouts over reinvesting all revenue into growth.
Specifically, the report found that, across 12 major crypto projects, an average of 64% of total revenue was returned to tokenholders, marking a shift from the previous focus on product development, marketing, and community programs.
These latest buybacks come after LayerZero announced several initiatives to expand its cross-chain network throughout 2025. In September, it announced it was integrating with Stellar, a blockchain with a total value locked (TVL) of $148.92 million.
And then, earlier this year, it integrated Mantle, an Ethereum Layer-2 with about $7 billion in on-chain assets, using its Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard to let users move MNT to HyperEVM.
Source: https://thedefiant.io/news/defi/layerzero-token-surges-after-usd10-million-buyback
