Pump.fun is a tool on the Solana blockchain that allows anyone to create their own memecoin for free, democratizing the process of token creation. By removing the need for coding skills, complex smart contract deployment or upfront investment, Pump.fun has significantly lowered the barriers to entry in the entire cryptocurrency space.
What Is Pump.fun?
Pump.fun is a Solana-based protocol that allows people to instantly create, promote and trade memecoins without any financial commitment or technical proficiency.
The memecoin market — once dominated by the likes of Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and Bonk — has been saturated with new additions thanks to Pump.fun. Millions of tokens have been created on the platform, and tens of thousands are rolling out every single day. Not many of these coins ever make it to popular exchanges, though, and very few achieve lasting popularity or value.
By making token creation so accessible, Pump.fun has fostered an environment where people will do anything to make a quick buck. Many creators resort to aggressive, outlandish marketing tactics or outright scams, such as “rug pulls,” where developers quickly abandon projects after profiting from early investments. As a result, the site has fueled the growth of a high-risk, controversial corner of the crypto industry, where speculation and hype often outweigh substance.
What Is Pump.fun?
Pump.fun is a memecoin launchpad that was established in January 2024. More than 8.5 million coins have been created on the platform as of March 2025, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard made by user adam_tehc, generating more than $587 million in fees for the company.
The Pump.fun website is a cross between a virtual casino and a 4chan messageboard, filled with off-color memes and inside jokes. Each new transaction generates colorful flashing alerts at the top of the website, while colorful memecoin logos rotate around a grid to indicate which coins are most popular at the moment.
The creators of the website, as identified by Wired, are Alon Cohen, Noah Tweedale and Dylan Kerler. Cohen and Tweedale told Wired that they started Pump.fun to level the playing field for memecoin traders and prevent rug pull scams that allow coin creators to steal investors’ money. To that end, they designed the platform to standardize the underlying source code, preventing malicious code that siphons funds from liquidity pools or prevents traders from selling. While standardizing the source code can prevent so-called “hard” rug pulls, Pump.fun has done little to prevent “soft” rug pulls that steal investors’ funds without technological assistance.
How Does Pump.fun Work?
Pump.fun promises a “fair launch” for all memecoins, with no presales, vesting periods or team allocations.
To create a new memecoin, users need only fill out a short form with a name, ticker symbol, image and a short description of their coin. The site previously charged users a small fee of 0.02 SOL (worth roughly $2 at the time) to create a coin, but it removed that fee in August 2024. Pump.fun does charge a 1 percent fee on each transaction, though.
Each coin is given a supply of 1 billion tokens, and 800 million of those tokens are automatically placed into Pump.fun’s “bonding curve” system, which allows the coin to be traded without the creator providing any startup liquidity. The bonding curve determines the price of a coin using a fixed mathematical formula based on supply and demand, rewarding early adopters with lower prices than those who buy later. This structure is designed to stabilize the price of tokens, preventing the volatility and manipulation seen elsewhere in the memecoin market.
A coin graduates from Pump.fun once all of the tokens in its bonding curve have been purchased, which occurs when the coin’s market cap reaches $69,000. The coin then transitions to Raydium, a decentralized exchange on Solana with greater visibility and liquidity. When the coin transfers to Raydium, Pump.fun provides $12,000 in liquidity and burns the corresponding liquidity provider (LP) tokens, permanently removing them from circulation. It also collects 6 SOL (worth $770 in March 2025) from the coin’s liquidity.
Of the more than 8.5 million memecoins created on Pump.fun as of March 2025, only about 110,000, (1.3 percent), have graduated to Raydium, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard made by user evelyn 233.
Top Memecoins Created on Pump.fun
Pump.fun has launched many popular memecoins that have gone on to reach billion-dollar valuations on mainstream crypto exchanges. Celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner, Iggy Azalea and Andrew Tate have all launched their tokens on the website.
Fartcoin
Fartcoin launched in October 2024 among users who liked making fart jokes. Every Fartcoin transaction generates a fart noise, referencing the “gas” fee that blockchains charge to fund network operations. The coin hit a $2.1 billion market cap in January 2025, but as of March 2025, its valuation has fallen to $300,000.
Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT)
PNUT was inspired by Peanut the Squirrel, an Instagram-famous squirrel who was seized by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officers in October 2024 because the squirrel’s owner, Mark Longo, did not have a permit. One of the conservation officers was bit by the squirrel, and the squirrel was then euthanized to conduct a rabies test. Longo was not involved in the creation of the coin, and he has sent cease-and-desist letters asking for crypto exchanges to delist the coin. The coin had a $1.8 billion market cap in November 2024 and was valued at $200 million in March 2025.
Act I: The AI Prophecy
Act I: The AI Prophecy launched in October 2024 to fund a “decentralized community focused on the advancement of AI research, education, and collaboration,” according to its website, adding that its mission is to “become the definitive index of all AI agents, setting the standard for what’s possible when AI meets meme culture.” The coin hit a market cap of $1.9 billion in November 2024, and is valued at $180 million as of March 2025.
Pump.fun Controversies
While Pump.fun has promoted experimentation and built a strong sense of community in the memecoin space, it is a controversial site. It has become a breeding ground for scams, disturbing (and perhaps even illegal) activities and unchecked bigotry.
One of the most notorious aspects of Pump.fun is its normalization of rug pulls and “pump-and-dump” schemes, where users pump up the value of a coin and then quickly dump their holdings before anyone else can — often at the expense of others. In a particularly infamous example, a 13-year-old boy boosted his “Gen Z Quant” coin to a market cap of $1 million before selling his shares for a $30,000 profit, flipping off the investors who were watching his livestream.
Beyond its financially risky environment, Pump.fun has also become a hotspot for harmful behavior. In November 2024, the platform had to indefinitely suspend its livestream feature after users performed increasingly outrageous stunts to get people to buy their memecoins, including sex shows, self-immolation and threats of violence against both humans and animals.
At the moment, Pump.fun operates in a sort of legal gray area that has only just begun to catch the attention of financial regulators and the legal system. In 2024, the platform was banned in the United Kingdom after the country’s Financial Conduct Authority warned residents that it was operating without its authorization. And in January 2025, Pump.fun was sued for alleged violations of U.S. securities laws. The federal class action lawsuit highlighted the company’s contradictory messaging on social media — on the one hand claiming to “prevent rugs” while also making light of all the rug pulls and pump-and-dump schemes that regularly occur on the platform. It also pointed to more than 20 memecoins on the site that openly promote racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of hate speech, along with threats of violence and sexual exploitation.
Another legal concern surrounding Pump.fun right now is whether the coins launched on the platform qualify as unregistered securities under the Howey test, a legal standard used to determine what constitutes a security in the United States. In February 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated that memecoins do not pass the Howey test, which means memecoin traders are not subject to securities laws. However the SEC did note that fraudulent activities are still subject to state and federal laws.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Pump.fun?
Pump.fun is a protocol on the Solana blockchain that allows users without any technical background to create and promote memecoins for free.
How much has Pump.fun made?
Pump.fun has generated more than $587 million from fees as of March 2025, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard made by user adam_tehc.
Can you make money on Pump.fun?
The internet is full of tips on how to make money on Pump.fun using automated trading tools, but Dune Analytics user adam_tehc found that less than 1 percent of Pump.fun users have earned more than $10,000. This claim has been disputed by Pump.fun cofounder Alon Cohen.
Is Pump.Fun free?
It is free to create a memecoin on Pump.fun, but the platform does charge a 1 percent fee for each transaction. It also collects 6 SOL from the liquidity of each coin that completes its bonding curve.
