Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed says stock buybacks should be illegal — a demand that came days after General Motors unveiled a $20 billion repurchase program. The proposal does not broadly affect buybacks in the crypto sector, however, because digital-asset repurchases run on two separate tracks, and only one of them would fall under the ban El-Sayed is calling for.

A Senate candidate targets corporate buybacks

El-Sayed, the Democrat in Michigan’s November 3 Senate race, wrote on X on Wednesday that “stock buybacks should be illegal,” accusing GM executives of enriching themselves and shareholders rather than funding workers and new products.

His post followed General Motors’ (GM) announcement of a $20 billion buyback plan that the United Auto Workers (UAW) called the largest buyback in U.S. automaker history. El-Sayed’s Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, a former U.S. House member, also criticized the company, saying it chose to “put profits over people.”

El-Sayed is seeking a seat in Congress, meaning the call remains a campaign position — any ban on buybacks would require federal legislation.

The UAW, which has endorsed El-Sayed, described the move as “legalized mass looting” in a statement from President Shawn Fain, who noted that CEO Mary Barra earned $48 million in 2025.

GM has said its “first priority is investing in our business and our employees,” citing more than $100 billion reinvested since 2020. The automaker has reportedly repurchased about $29.5 billion in stock since 2023, with Barra calling the shares undervalued.

A Marist poll conducted October 15 to 18 put El-Sayed at 50% and Rogers at 48% among likely voters.

Two tracks: corporate buybacks vs. token buybacks

Strategy Inc., the Bitcoin treasury company formerly known as MicroStrategy, now holds 848,517 BTC and conducts traditional corporate buybacks. An 8-K filing with the SEC covering October 19 shows the board raised the limit on its digital credit securities repurchase program from $2.0 billion to $3.0 billion, leaving $1.16 billion available. In the week ending October 18, the company bought back 1,938,780 shares of its Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC) for $193.1 million. Strategy also maintains a separate, still-open $1.0 billion authorization for buying back its MSTR common stock.

El-Sayed’s target, as spelled out in his post about GM, is public companies repurchasing their own shares. Strategy’s STRC and MSTR buybacks fall squarely into that category, meaning a ban on corporate buybacks would affect them.

Crypto projects, by contrast, increasingly use a different mechanism known as “token buybacks.” Under this model, a protocol revenue it earns from trading and uses it to buy its own token on the open market, often destroying the tokens afterward.

The practice recently gained clearer regulatory backing after the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance said in an updated FAQ that announcing a buyback for an already functioning crypto network does not turn the token into a security.

Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund, for example, automatically buys and burns HYPE tokens using 99% of eligible trading fees. Cryptopolitan recently reported that the Hyperliquid Policy Center asked the SEC to incorporate the buyback guidance directly into its proposed Regulation Crypto Assets.

Meanwhile, token buybacks have reached a record $638 million. The SEC’s response to the Policy Center’s request is the next checkpoint for the token side; on the corporate side, Michigan voters head to the polls on November 3.