Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun is riding a wave of renewed adoption, with its native PUMP token climbing to an all-time high.

According to CryptoSlate’s data, PUMP surged to $0.0086 on Sept. 14, setting a fresh peak before retreating by nearly 3% to trade around $0.008 at press time.

The latest move represents a sharp reversal for the asset, which had struggled for traction since its July debut and appeared to be losing ground to rival projects.

However, Pump.fun has shifted momentum, leveraging product upgrades to regain market attention.

Streaming growth

A key driver of this rebound has been the relaunch of Pump.fun’s livestreaming feature. The platform, once criticized for unsafe broadcasts including instances of self-harm, paused the function last year.

However, its reintroduction has triggered a surge in user activity, with livestreaming now contributing directly to engagement and platform revenue.

Alon Cohen, Pump.fun’s co-founder, said the platform has already overtaken Rumble in average concurrent streams. He added that Pump.fun now controls roughly 1% of Twitch’s market share and 10% of Kick’s.

Alon also signaled that the project no longer limits itself to crypto-native audiences but instead seeks a foothold in mainstream content streaming. He also outlined the several opportunities that streaming on the platform could provide users, by saying:

“When you stream on pump fun you get INSTANT Creator Fees (100x+ of what you earn elsewhere). INSTANT viewership with a community that’s incentivized to support you. Free clipping on X (other socials soon). And 24/7 support from the team.”

Despite ongoing criticism of its approach, Alon has brushed aside concerns, arguing that new entrants inevitably face scrutiny and that competitors will continue to emerge.

He stated:

“first they said that memecoin activity would never sustain then they said that no one would ever stream on pump fun now they’re saying that pump fun streaming is not sustainable I wonder what they’ll come up with next.”

Creator earnings rise

The renewed activity has translated into direct gains for creators on the Solana memecoin launchpad.

Data from Dune Analytics showed that creator earnings on Pump.fun soared to $20 million in the last seven days, which is a record weekly payout for the platform.

The data shows that the top 25 creators earned between $24,100 and $123,000 in the past 24 hours alone.

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Crypto projects captured $2.67 billion in investments last month and is equivalent to 85% of money raised during the entire second quarter.

DefiLlama data shows that the funding amount in July is 6% larger than June, when crypto startups surpassed $2.5 billion by a small margin.

Additionally, July was the second-largest month in funding, bested only by March’s $3.5 billion. Pump.fun’s pre-sales contributed heavily to July’s numbers, as it attracted nearly $1 billion before its token generation event.

Treasuries shine

DefiLlama tracked investments into crypto-related companies under the category “Investments,” which received $512 million in funding. 

BitMine raised $250 million to add Ethereum to its treasury, representing the largest amount in the “investments” category. Meanwhile, Upexi’s $200 million funding was the second-largest capital raise in the category, which was destined to add Solana to its holdings.

Together, both companies represented 88% of all funding in the “investments” category in July.

“Stablecoin infrastructure” also received significant attention from investors, with $352.5 million directed to projects in the segement.

Hong Kong-based OSL Group dominated the funding, gathering $300 million to boost its global expansion.

RD Technologies is another project from Hong Kong, which received $40 million to create regulated systems for stablecoins ranging from issuance to distribution. 

DeFi strong even without Pump.fun

Despite Pump.fun adding a considerable amount to the “DeFi” category, projects developing products for the decentralized finance ecosystem raised $107 million. The amount is relatively substantial compared to other sectors.

Kuru received $11.6 million to develop a central limit order book (CLOB) based on the Monad infrastructure. At the same time, GAIB captured $10 million to create a decentralized economic layer to tokenize GPUs and their revenue stream.

Falcon Finance also received a two-digit funding, as World Liberty Financial backed the project with $10 million to build an overcolateralized stablecoin.

The last of the sectors that got at least $100 million in funding is “infrastructure.” Bitzero raised $25 million in a Series B funding round to support its mining operations.

Furthermore, xTAO received $22.8 million to continue its work of supporting and scaling the Bittensor ecosystem.

Soluna secured a two-digit investment, capturing $20 million to enhance operations, including Bitcoin mining with green energy.

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Pump.fun, a platform that enables anyone to create and launch memecoins, concluded one of the largest and fastest initial coin offerings (ICOs) on Saturday. Within 12 minutes of the ICO going live, the platform raised $600 million from the sale of 15% of its token supply for $0.0040 each.

The ICO, which ended far quicker than the assigned 72 hours, put the platform’s fully diluted valuation at $4 billion, according to the platform.

Over the next 48-72 hours, all 150 billion PUMP tokens will be transferred to the investors. The tokens, however, will remain untradeable and untransferrable until the platform completes the distribution phase by July 15, according to ICO Drops data.

The PUMP token was available for sale on various centralized exchanges, including Gate, Kraken, and KuCoin, each of which saw cumulative investments worth $5 million, $30 million, and $16.5 million, respectively.

Bybit announced that due to unexpected delays in its application programming interface (API), the PUMP sale was oversubscribed. The exchange said it is verifying the final allocation of users whose funds are frozen. For users who did not receive an allocation, Bybit said it will refund all funds.

Investors from the U.S. and the U.K. were barred from participating in the ICO for regulatory reasons. According to Bloomberg, today’s ICO pushed Pump.fun’s total token sales to $1.32 billion.

All about the PUMP token

The platform describes the PUMP token as a “utility coin that will be used alongside the pump.fun brand behind the Pump.Fun Protocols.”

Holders of the PUMP token can choose to participate in promotional giveaways. Pump.fun, however, clarifies that its protocols will remain permissionless and will not require the use of PUMP tokens.

The PUMP token’s maximum supply is capped at 1 trillion, of which 33% or 330 billion tokens are allocated to the ICO. Of the 33%, 18% or 180 billion tokens were sold to institutional investors in a private sale, the platform said in an X post. The remaining 15% was sold to retain investors during today’s ICO.

It is worth noting that data Pump.fun shows that only 12.5% of the token supply was sold for a total of $500 million. However, Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen told Bloomberg that all 15% of PUMP’s supply was sold in today’s ICO as per previously announced plans.

Community reaction

Despite the undeniable success of Pump.fun’s ICO, the crypto community is divided over its merits. This is especially in light of Pump.fun facing growing competition from LetsBONK and a decline in revenue. LetsBONK, a Solana-based memecoin launchpad, has clocked more volume than Pump.fun over the past week, according to Dune Analytics data.

Noting that he is not an investor, Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at venture capital firm Dragonfly, noted:

“$PUMP is going to be getting 25% of Pump revenues, so beyond one of the largest ICOs ever, this will be one of the highest gross revenue tokens in crypto.”

Others, however, are less thrilled about the ICO. For instance, Jeremie Henicz, head of XBorg AI, asked if he’s the only one who finds it “cringe,” while responding to Qureshi. Similarly, Marty Bent, founder of Truth for the Commoner (TFTC), stated:

“Pump.fun and those supporting it (even if at arm’s length) are Pied Pipers leading Gen Z to ruin.”

Even before the ICO, many have criticized the platform’s tokenomics. Crypto researcher Rex, for instance, called the platform’s tokenomics exploitative, with nearly 40% tokens allocated to Pump.fun itself.

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Crypto is rebellion.

It’s a vision of tearing down the walls built by the financial elite and giving power back to the billions who’ve been told, “you don’t belong.” It’s about markets that never sleep, that no one owns – borderless, permissionless, incorruptible…

… and so, here we are, trading tokens like ASSDAQ and ASS&P500.

These kinds of tokens wouldn’t exist without Pump(.)fun, the memecoin launchpad that ran the memecoin show this cycle.

Or, should I say… used to run it.

Back in April, the BONK community, together with Solana’s DEX Raydium, launched a competing memecoin platform called LetsBONK.

The big difference between the two is how they handle the fees:

Pump(.)fun barely gives back to the Solana ecosystem → a profit first approach;

LetsBonk, on the other hand, reinvests part of its fees into BONK and Solana ecosystems → a community-first approach.

And LetsBONK is now beating Pump(.)fun:

• It deployed 2.2x more tokens than Pump(.)fun in the past 24 hours;

• Graduated 75% of yesterday’s memecoins, compared to Pump(.)fun’s 22% (FYI: “graduated” means the token moved off the launchpad and onto a DEX);

• Collected 2.5x more fees;

• Of the top 25 tokens launched this week, 19 were from LetsBonk, and just 4 from Pump(.)fun.

Now, that’s bad news for Pump(.)fun – especially since their $4B token sale is on the horizon (we talked more about it here btw.)

Here’s why it’s bad:

1/ The narrative is moving away

In crypto – and especially memecoins – vibes matter.

Pump(.)fun made its name as the go-to place for stupid tokens and hype. But LetsBonk is stealing that thunder.

→ Asking investors to value you at $4B when you’re already losing your crown? Not a great look.

2/ Sustainability questions

Pump(.)fun’s profit-first model worked when no one knew better.

But now LetsBonk is showing you can grow while actually supporting the community and the chain.

→ Investors and users may now doubt the long-term sustainability of Pump(.)fun’s model. Why would they support a platform that bleeds the ecosystem when another is giving back and growing faster?

3/ $4B looks insane

A $4B valuation implies confidence in future growth and market leadership.

→ If they’re already being outperformed, that confidence gets shaky – and investors might call BS on the valuation.

Sooo… is Pump(.)fun completely cooked?

Not yet. But it is starting to fall behind… We’ll know when we know.

Pump.fun has delayed its public token sale once again, extending months of uncertainty for users and investors as the popular Solana-based launchpad wrestles with a flurry of lawsuits, Colin Wu reported on June 20.

Pump.fun had aimed to raise $1 billion at a $4 billion valuation through its token auction originally set for June 25. The sale is now expected to happen in mid-July, although the team did not give a precise date or clear reason for the additional delay.

The token launch has reportedly been postponed multiple times since planning began in early 2024, frustrating backers eager for clarity on the platform’s future.

Class action lawsuit

Pump.fun’s legal headaches center on a class action lawsuit filed by Burwick Law on Jan. 15.

The complaint claims that the launchpad operated as an unregistered securities exchange and engaged in systematic price manipulation, inflating the value of tokens minted through its platform and leaving retail buyers with heavy losses when hype subsided.

Max Burwick, founder of the firm, has publicly accused Pump.fun of running what he calls a modern pyramid scheme masked as a viral meme economy. The lawsuit seeks damages and an injunction to halt what the plaintiffs describe as deceptive marketing and trading practices.

On top of the securities claims, Burwick Law and Wolf Popper LLP served Pump.fun with a cease and desist order in February, alleging that user-generated memecoins regularly use trademarks and brand names without permission, exposing the platform to intellectual property liabilities.

Social media ban fuels uncertainty

The project’s struggles spilled onto social media when the official X accounts of Pump.fun and its founder were suspended on June 16 without public explanation.

The ban, which was lifted a few days later, sparked rumors that regulators or legal complaints may have prompted the takedown. However, neither X nor Pump.fun confirmed any link to the pending lawsuits.

The incident mirrored a broader trend, as other crypto startups have reported abrupt suspensions on the platform in recent months, further rattling communities already wary of increasing regulatory crackdowns worldwide.

Pump.fun has since expanded its legal team in an attempt to defend itself against multiple lawsuits and maintain community support. Despite the fresh hires, users and investors remain in the dark about when the token sale, billed as a major milestone for the project, will finally take place.

The repeated postponements have also reignited debate within the Solana ecosystem about the sustainability and legal risks of rapid-fire memecoin launches.

Industry watchers say the outcome of the lawsuits could set an important precedent for other meme-focused platforms navigating the thin line between viral hype and regulatory compliance.

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The official Pump.fun account and the personal handle of its founder Alon Cohen were seemingly suspended by X on June 16, along with a cohort of other accounts tied to the memecoin sector.

As of press time, neither X nor the people behind the suspended accounts explained the reason for the suspensions.

Users noticed that the accounts were returning “user not found” errors at approximately 7:30 p.m. UTC, effectively removing the chief communication channel for the Solana-based memecoin launchpad site.

Memecoin-related accounts suspended

An X user identified as Otto compiled a list showing dozens of locked profiles, including handles tied to the GMGN and Bloom trading communities. 

Affected accounts included @gmgnai, @haze0x, @arthur_gmgn, @BloomTrading, and @imBFFF00, as well as bot-infrastructure developers such as @bullx_io and @ElizaOS.

Otto described the event as an “internal enforcement sweep” rather than the result of coordinated mass-report campaigns. CryptoSlate has been unable to verify the claim.

Most of the frozen accounts provide trading tools, automated order routing, or marketing services for on-chain assets, functions that often interact with X’s rules on platform manipulation and spam. 

However, the list also includes influencers and well-known traders in the memecoin circles.

Over $10M within an hour

Within the first hour of the account’s disappearance, users flooded Pump.fun with memecoins referencing the suspension and the founder’s alias. 

DEX Screener data as of 8:22 p.m. UTC show five of them among the top 10 tokens trending for the day. Collectively, they accounted for $10.4 million in volume at the time.

Furthermore, 15 out of the 31 tokens that fulfilled the bonding curve and “graduated” from Pump.fun within one hour after the ban were related to the episode.

According to a Dune dashboard by user adam_tehc, the suspension-related tokens that graduated represent 9% of all memecoins that completed the bonding curve on June 16.

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Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has launched a mobile app supporting iOS and Android devices, according to a Feb. 14 announcement.

The app allows users to buy, sell, and create tokens for free, manage their digital portfolios, and track assets in real-time. The mobile release aims to enhance accessibility for a growing user base, providing seamless interaction with the Solana blockchain on the go.

The company highlighted that the app is designed with a user-friendly interface, making it easier for both experienced traders and newcomers to navigate the volatile memecoin landscape.

Like the main platform, the Pump.fun app will not be available to UK users due to regulatory challenges in the country.

Renewed memecoin frenzy

The app launch comes amid a renewed memecoin frenzy fueled by a viral social media post made by former Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao.

CZ’s revelation of his dog’s name, Broccoli, sparked a wave of speculation, leading to the creation of hundreds of Broccoli-themed tokens — the vast majority of which were rug pulls or honey pot scams launched by malicious actors trying to take advantage of the situation.

Many of these coins, particularly on Pump.fun and BNB Smart Chain’s Four.Meme, experienced rapid price surges before crashing. Some traders capitalized on the frenzy, with blockchain data revealing instances of early entrants making millions before latecomers suffered heavy losses.

This latest episode highlights the speculative nature of the memecoin market and its susceptibility to hype-driven price movements.

Regulatory Challenges persist

The app launch comes despite the platform’s recent legal and regulatory challenges in multiple jurisdictions around the world.

In December 2024, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned investors to “beware of scams” involving Pump.fun, stating that the platform might be operating without proper authorization.

The regulator’s concerns centered around the platform’s potential to facilitate unregistered securities trading and market manipulation. Industry experts have pointed out that the FCA’s increased scrutiny of crypto-related platforms signals a broader regulatory tightening across Europe.

The regulatory scrutiny prompted Pump.fun to block access to the platform for local users and essentially “withdraw” from the UK. There have been no further updates about the situation from UK authorities or the platform.

Legal challenges have also surfaced in the US, where two law firms have sued Pump.fun over alleged intellectual property violations, and another lawsuit claims the platform violates securities laws.

Additionally, US regulators have reportedly been examining Pump.fun’s role in the proliferation of unregistered tokens and its compliance with anti-money laundering laws. The lawsuits raise questions about the broader legality of memecoin projects and the responsibilities of platforms facilitating their creation.

Despite these hurdles, Pump.fun remains a dominant force in the memecoin sector. The platform has generated significant transaction volumes, with a daily fee revenue of $15.5 million in its first year. On Feb. 13 alone, Pump.fun recorded $7.61 million in fees.

The platform’s rapid adoption highlights the continued demand for speculative digital assets, even amid increasing regulatory pressure.

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