As of now, Pump.fun has delivered a relatively satisfactory answer. After its launch, the price has steadily risen, and just recently, Pump.fun achieved its first token buyback using transaction fees. But can the token price really be maintained? In many people's minds, this question remains uncertain.
Speaking of the king of applications in this round of bull market, Pump.fun is not at the top but is still high on the list. It is not an exaggeration to say that the emergence of Pump.fun has successfully elevated MEME to a new height. Its fair issuance concept and convenient operation form have completely broken the high threshold of traditional issuance models, making it enticing to establish a token for just $3. Even in the current decline of MEME, it still holds a very high appeal.
From a mechanism perspective, there was no pre-sale or private offering, and the entire process was priced via smart contracts. A graduation mechanism was even set up, automatically creating a liquidity pool on DEX once the market cap reached $69,000. This fully automated token launch process has been well-received in the market, making Pump.fun the strongest money printer in this round of the market.
Since its launch in January 2024, Pump.fun has issued a total of 11.44 million tokens, with over 22 million active addresses, achieving cumulative revenue of nearly $720 million. The highest single-day transaction fee even reached $5.43 million, and the peak single-day revenue astonishingly reached $15.88 million. It can basically be said that all the market dividends of this round of MEME have been captured by Pump.fun, further driving the development of the Solana ecosystem.
It is precisely such a project that started with MEME that suddenly wants to issue tokens, triggering widespread discussion in the market. The rumors of Pump.fun's token issuance began in February this year when Wu revealed that Pump.fun planned to issue tokens on centralized exchanges and even prepared complete issuance documents. However, this was later shelved due to liquidity exhaustion caused by the frequent issues surrounding Trump’s family and MEME. In June, rumors of token issuance resurfaced. Blockworks quoted multiple insiders reporting that Pump.fun planned to raise $1 billion through token sales with a valuation of $4 billion, and the tokens would be sold to public and private investors.
On July 10, Pump.fun finally released the news, announcing that it would officially launch the public sale of its native token PUMP on July 12, 2025, at 22:00, with an airdrop for PUMP coming soon. This sale will offer 150 billion tokens at a price of $0.004 USDT, accounting for 15% of the total supply (1 trillion tokens). With a valuation of $4 billion, it aims to raise $600 million. Due to compliance reasons, participants from the UK and the US are prohibited from participating in this sale. In the PUMP token economics, 33% is allocated for public sales, 24% for community and ecological incentives, 20% for the team, 2.4% for the ecological fund, 2% for the foundation, 13% for existing investors, 3% for live stream-related expenses, and 2.6% for liquidity and exchanges.
However, compared to the expectations prior to the token issuance, when it actually happened, the market collectively turned bearish. The controversy centered around the valuation of $4 billion. It's worth noting that the last stablecoin to ring the bell in New York, Circle, had a valuation of only $7 billion. If the established players are like this, how can a blockchain casino claim a valuation of $4 billion, even surpassing many of the current DeFi blue-chip protocols, prompting the market to say liquidity is being overstretched.
More crucially, times have changed. Looking at the current crypto world, apart from these two days of upward movement, most altcoins and MEME coins can only be described as sluggish. This can be seen from trading volumes; according to Dune's data, after reaching a peak trading volume of $5.44 million on January 23, 2025, Pump.fun's trading volume has shown a drastic decline trend. Recently, daily trading volumes have stabilized at around $700,000, which is an 87.2% drop from the peak. Moreover, the graduation rate of tokens is shockingly low; in 2024, there was once a graduation rate of 1.6%, but now it has fallen to below 1%. This shows that the beneficial effects are weakening, the MEME market is getting "cold", and user enthusiasm is quickly dissipating. However, no matter how impressive Pump.fun is, it is merely a tool that needs to rely on the heat of the MEME market, which has led to market skepticism about its valuation.
On the other hand, while the market is shrinking, competitors are rising. Once invincible in the market, Pump.fun has recently faced pressure. Just recently, the competitor letsbonk.fun, centered around BONK, has developed rapidly and has repeatedly ranked first in token issuance numbers, surpassing Pump.fun to claim the top market share. Although Pump.fun has quickly retaliated, the competition between the two remains intense, and it must be admitted that Pump.fun's leading position is under threat.
For various reasons, the $4 billion valuation of Pump.fun has come under severe scrutiny. After rumors of token issuance in June, it triggered market risk aversion, causing a significant pullback in popular MEME coins within the Solana ecosystem and a rapid outflow of funds. Jocy, a partner at IOSG Ventures, even bluntly stated that this ICO seems more like an exit of liquidity rather than a long-term development plan. Crypto researcher @rezxbt pointed out that Pump.fun is undergoing a complete "harvesting operation."
Interestingly, in March 2024, Pump.fun co-founder Alon stated on social media that every pre-sale is a scam. Ironically, Pump.fun is precisely issuing tokens in the form of a pre-sale, a real-time contradiction of that statement. The total supply for the token issuance is 33% for public sales, 18% for institutional private placements, and 15% for public offerings, with all tokens fully unlocked on the first day of launch.
From the final results, while industry insiders may not be optimistic, supporters and institutions clearly see things differently. In terms of public offerings, within just 12 minutes, the PUMP token completed a public offering of $500 million, with six major exchanges including Kraken, Bitget, and Bybit participating in the public offering. According to Dune panel data, the number of wallets that participated in the pre-sale on Pump.fun's official website and completed KYC was 23,959, with 89.7% of the PUMP tokens pre-sold through the official website, while sales from various CEXs accounted for only 10.3%. In the official pre-sale addresses, small users were the main group, with 5,758 users applying for PUMP under $1,000, while the number of addresses applying for over $1 million was 202, indicating institutional enthusiasm.
The entire process perfectly illustrates the unique characteristic of the crypto world where appearances can be deceptive. Due to some technical issues during the public sale on exchanges, users had difficulty completing purchases, leading many to express dissatisfaction on social media. At that time, there was significant debate in the community regarding Pump's subsequent performance. Some believed the valuation was too high, and that after the spotlight effect ends, a collapse is inevitable, while others argued that Pump, being the most representative product of MEME, has a complete revenue logic and cognitive foundation, and would not easily deflate.
Looking at the current stage, the latter seems to have temporarily achieved victory. After the launch of GMGN on July 15, Pump briefly dropped from $0.0065 to $0.0042, but after some fluctuations, it began to rise again, currently reported at $0.0066, a 55% increase compared to the fundraising price of $0.004. The FDV price has also risen from $4 billion to $6.6 billion, bringing wealth effects to the purchasers.
Of course, this part of the increase also has an element of performance. According to on-chain analysis by @EmberCN, as of 8 AM today, pump.fun started using transaction fee income to buy back PUMP after the token issuance. In the past 7 hours, it transferred 187,770 SOL of transaction fee income to the 3vkp…3WTi address, purchased PUMP, and then transferred the purchased tokens to the G8Cc…kqjm address for storage. So far, it has used 111,953 SOL (approximately $1.83 million) to purchase 3.04 billion PUMP tokens at an average price of $0.006. The buyback can support the price, but it also raises suspicions of transferring from one hand to another. Nevertheless, for holders, regardless of the purpose, as long as the price goes up, it is ultimately a good thing.
Whether it's liquidity exit or simply building for benefit, the valuation controversy surrounding Pump.fun reflects the current market situation: the MEME, once renowned for its liquidity, is collectively facing difficulties, and the booming attention economy seems to be gradually becoming a false proposition. As we move forward, even the most representative applications have to take the path of token issuance, subtly hinting at the end of the narrative. Where MEME will ultimately head, the token Pump is a barometer; the market's bets on it will serve as an effective observation of the value judgment of the attention economy. An increase in the token represents market recognition of its pricing, while a decrease will prompt the public to reflect on the true connotation of the MEME market, leading to more selling sentiment. And this may also be one of the reasons why Pump has opted for buybacks.
Returning to the title question, who profited from the token issuance by Pump.fun? Undoubtedly, the project team profited, and the participants in public and private offerings also seem to have made gains. Short-term investors who bought in have also benefited, but how long can these profits last? To what extent can the project team maintain the token price is still a big question mark. Some whales have already started to cash out. According to Lookonchain monitoring, a whale identified as 8a5nSU spent 5 million USDC through 5 wallets to participate in the PUMP public sale, purchasing 1.25 billion PUMP tokens. Today, they sold all of them at an average price of $0.0067, earning a profit of $3.416 million.
On the other hand, returning to the current real-world context, the improvement of the macro market will also have a certain impact on MEME. Ethereum narratives are strong, and mainstream tokens led by Ethereum continue to rise, resulting in the direct outcome of Ethereum blue-chip altcoins exploding. For example, ENS surged over 18% today, reaching a new high since February this year. In the long run, even though the current market has a bit more uncertainty, foreseeable interest rate cuts are on the way, and the altcoin market may also welcome a small climax. MEME reflects a more polarized trend, with high-quality MEME benefiting from sector rotation, while remaining MEME liquidity is being siphoned off, leading most to present a situation of being ignored.
If this path continues, MEME, which is similar to lipstick and lottery economies, will always exist, but it will be difficult to stir up the same wave of capital as in 2024.
(The above content is excerpted and reprinted with the authorization of partner PANews, original link | Source: Torque Finance)
"Behind the Token Issuance Carnival of Pump.fun: Who is Retreating? Who is Taking Over?" This article was originally published by (Block客).
