pump.fun
 | |
Type of site | Cryptocurrency exchange |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Created by | Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen, Dylan Kerler |
| Industry | Cryptocurrency |
| URL | https://pump.fun |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | A Solana wallet is required to interact with the platform |
| Launched | January 19, 2024 |
| Current status | Active |
pump.fun (commonly referred to as Pump) is a cryptocurrency launchpad for the Solana blockchain that enables users to create tokens and trade them immediately on the platform, as well as to launch them onto decentralized exchanges, a process known as "graduation". The platform was launched on January 19, 2024, by Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen and Dylan Kerler[1][2][3] While any type of token can be created, the majority of tokens are classified as meme coins due to their lack of functionality outside of investments.[4]
The site has been described as the "ground zero" for launching meme coins, with users able to instantly create coins for free.[5] Created tokens face a high failure rate, with the vast majority of tokens failing to achieve the necessary traction and market capitalization to be listed on DeFi platforms such as Raydium.[1] As of January 2025, over 6 million meme coins had been launched on the platform according to Wired and it was described as one of the fastest-growing crypto applications ever according to some metrics by Ars Technica.[6][7]
The platform has been compared with social media platforms such as 4chan, as all accounts are identified either with their Solana wallet address or a nickname, as well as token listings being laid out similarly to an imageboard's catalog feature.[8]
History
The domain name was first registered on September 19, 2023,[9] with the platform launching four months later on January 19, 2024.[2][4] The website was started by an anonymous developer known as Alon, tweeting that he wanted to make it "the most fun place on the internet".[3] It was later revealed from public documents associated with the website that the owners were a trio of English entrepreneurs named Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen and Dylan Kerler, who say they started the site due to their frustrations with trading memecoins and the risks of getting rug pulled.[1]
Pump.fun was estimated to have generated $60 million in transaction fees (a 1% cut of trades on the platform) in the first half of 2024, with over a million tokens having been created by July 2024.[4][8]
The site launched a livestreaming feature in 2024 that allowed token developers to advertise their tokens to other users.[10] Livestreams were used as a marketing tool for newly released tokens to stand out on the platform, as the constant influx of token creations on the platform can quickly make new coins become irrelevant.[11] The feature became controversial not long after release, as a number of token creators began to partake in increasingly extreme actions to attract potential investors to their product.[10][3] Some streamers claimed to be live from within U.S. prisons, ran live sex shows or played games of Russian roulette.[10] One streamer threatened to waterboard another person.[10]
In November 2024, "Gen Z Quant", a token made on the platform by a 13-year-old who publicized it through pump.fun's streaming service before dumping his holdings onto the market (roughly 5 percent of the total supply of the token) and abandoning the token after reaching a $1 million market cap, earning $50,000. This angered many of the platform's users, prompting the community to pump the token in revenge to an US$85 million market cap, as well as to dox the creator's name, home address and school.[7][12][13] By this point, the app was reported to have collected over $250 million in revenue.[7]
The livestreaming feature was indefinitely suspended in November 2024 following major community backlash and attention from financial news organizations with Pump stating that it would be removed "for an indefinite time period until the moderation infrastructure is ready to deal with the heightened levels of activity".[14][15]
In December 2024, the site banned all users from the United Kingdom, following a warning from the Financial Conduct Authority about operating in the country without proper authorization.[1]
In January 2025, a lawsuit against pump.fun was filed in the Southern District of New York by an investor who lost money buying a token named "PNUT". The lawsuit claims that pump.fun operated as an unregistered securities exchange and put investors at a high financial risk.[6][16]
Functionality
The site allows instant creation of memecoins by uploading an image along with picking a ticker and a name for less than $2 in fees.[8] Pump.fun earns a 1% "swap fee" on all tokens traded and 1.5 Solana tokens when a coin created on the site is listed, or "graduates", after hitting a market cap of $90,000.[17]
According to Bloomberg, "new tokens on Pump.fun are created through a so-called fair launch method, where all tokens are minted at once without presales, often at a fraction of a cent."[8] However, the app remains susceptible to "soft rug pulls".[7] Its creators have stated that soft rug pulls are difficult to prevent through technical means and that they instead give users access to information about a coin's legitimacy, including the percentage of a token owned by the largest holders, to assess risk.[7]
Major tokens launched on Pump.fun
Pump.fun has functioned as the launchpad for many notable meme coins. Fartcoin, which briefly hit a $1 billion valuation as part of a sudden rise in meme coins due to the recent $Trump meme coin launch (which was released on the Solana blockchain but was not launched through Pump), is among one of the more popular tokens created on the platform.[18] Celebrities including Iggy Azalea, Caitlyn Jenner and Jason Derulo have released authorized meme coins on the platform.[1][19]
References
- ^ a b c d e "The Madcap Rise of the Memecoin Factory Pump.fun". Wired. January 15, 2024. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
- ^ a b @pumpdotfun (January 19, 2024). "Launch a coin and begin trading it in under 1 minute without having to seed liquidity for a cost of < $2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c Gault, Matthew (November 25, 2024). "Pump.fun Is All of the Internet's Worst Impulses on One Site". Gizmodo. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
- ^ a b c Yaffe-Bellany, David (July 27, 2024). "A Digital Coin Based on Baby Trump? Yup". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ "Memecoins like Fartcoin are riding Trump's victory to huge valuations. Experts say it may have only begun". NBC News. December 17, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
- ^ a b Khalili, Joel. "They Went After the Hawk Tuah Crypto Promoters. Now They're Suing Pump.Fun". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e WIRED (December 7, 2024). "Teen creates memecoin, dumps it, earns $50,000". Ars Technica. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Shen, Muyao (July 12, 2024). "Pump.fun, Crypto's '4chan,' Attracts Iggy Azalea and 1 Million Memecoins". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
- ^ "WHOIS search results". www.godaddy.com. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Nicolle, Emily (November 26, 2024). "Pump.fun's Streams Show the Dark Side of Memecoin Trading". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
- ^ Khalili, Joel. "Memecoins and Cryptocurrency Regulation". Wired. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
- ^ Katie Wickens (December 11, 2024). "13-year-old that made a killing creating a crypto and then dumping it gets 'revenge pumped', family doxxed, and even dognapping rumours emerge". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
- ^ Khalili, Joel. "A Kid Made $50,000 Dumping Crypto He'd Created. Then Came the Backlash". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
- ^ Khalili, Joel. "The Madcap Rise of Memecoin Factory Pump.Fun". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ^ Gault, Matthew (November 26, 2024). "Pump.fun Shuts Down Its Bonkers Live Streaming Service". Gizmodo. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
- ^ "Carnahan v. Baton Corporation Ltd". CourtListener. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
- ^ Bambysheva, Nina (November 14, 2024). "Inside the wild money machine fuelling crypto's stupidest bubble". Forbes Australia. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
- ^ McGrath, Catherine. "Ew: Fartcoin hits $1 billion market cap as memecoin market explodes". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved March 4, 2025.
- ^ Kushner, David. "How a shady hustler in Dubai turned celebrity meme coins into a crypto grift". Business Insider. Retrieved March 4, 2025.