Pump.fun, the popular Solana-based token launchpad, is under growing pressure as its native token, $PUMP, has dropped below its initial coin offering (ICO) price. Launched on July 15 amid intense hype, the token raised $600 million in just 12 minutes and initially surged to $0.0068.
The project had previously raised an additional $720 million in a private round, bringing the total capital raised to approximately $1.32 billion. Since then, it has fallen nearly 46.5% from its all-time high and is now trading below $0.0036, about 7.5% below its ICO price of $0.004.
The declining token value follows growing discontent among users who are waiting for details on a promised airdrop. Despite an official post about the ICO on July 9 from pump.fun’s X account stating that an airdrop was “coming soon,” no timeline or distribution details have been released. pump.fun co-founder alon has only posted vague and cryptic messages, including a reference to shifting dates and an image inviting users to “think harder.”
letsBONK.fun Emerges as a Serious Competitor
While $PUMP has struggled, letsBONK.fun has steadily gained traction and now leads across several key metrics. Over the past seven days, letsBONK.fun generated over $11.2 million in revenue compared to pump.fun’s $3.3 million. It also recorded more than 167,634 token launches, dwarfing pump.fun’s 72,729.
More notably, letsBONK.fun now controls a 74.3% share of the Solana launchpad market, according to data from Dune. Pump.fun’s market share has declined to 24.4%, its lowest point in recent memory.
For the first time, letsBONK.fun also surpassed Pump.fun in daily active wallets, with over 122,000 addresses compared to Pump.fun’s 103,000.
Community Frustration Grows
Much of the community’s dissatisfaction stems from the lack of communication about the $PUMP airdrop. Despite early signals and an expectation set by the ICO announcement, the team has not provided any concrete updates. This has left users speculating and voicing concerns across social media. Several posts from both the official account and alon have been flooded with comments demanding answers.
The pump.fun co-founder added to the confusion when he posted on X: "they said it would be on the 2nd, then the 12th, then the 15th, now they’re saying the 2nd again, maybe you'll figure it out."
This message, seemingly alluding to the $PUMP airdrop rumors, left the community uncertain about what to believe.
Separately, Lookonchain reported that two major private sale investors have sent over $160 million worth of $PUMP tokens to exchanges. These large transactions suggest the possibility of continued sell pressure. Wallets tagged as "PUMP Top Fund 1" and "PUMP Top Fund 2" have already offloaded large portions of their holdings, triggering concerns about further price declines.
Many in the community are hoping for clarity during the upcoming interview between alon and a popular streamer, threadguy, scheduled for later today, July 23rd at 1 PM Pacific Time. Users are looking for concrete details on the airdrop timeline, roadmap updates, and plans to address growing competition.
Shrinking Buybacks and Slowing Momentum
After the ICO, pump.fun attempted to support the token price with substantial buybacks totaling $19.24 million. However, recent buybacks have fallen sharply, with only $125,000 in activity recorded on Sunday, according to Dune data. There has been no clear communication from the team around the buyback strategy. According to onchain data, recent buybacks have ranged between 20% to 25% of daily revenue. The initial large buyback suggests that Pump.fun used approximately 25% of its revenue from the past two months to fund that effort. This decline in support, alongside heavy selling and an inactive communication strategy, has contributed to the downward trend.
Raydium contributor 0xINFRA noted that letsBONK.fun and LaunchLab achieved an all-time high revenue day of $1.9 million on July 21, bringing further attention to pump.fun’s underperformance.
Airdrop Silence and Market Share Loss Fuel Pressure
As $PUMP continues to drift below its ICO price and user frustration mounts, pump.fun faces a pivotal moment. Community trust has been tested by vague communications, shrinking buybacks, and increasing sell pressure from private investors. Meanwhile, letsBONK.fun has leveraged this opportunity to capture market leadership. With airdrop expectations still unmet, the future of $PUMP now hinges on the platform’s ability to regain momentum and reassure its community in the days ahead. It remains to be seen whether pump.fun has a strategy in place to regain market share, especially considering it still holds $1.3 billion in cash reserves even when discounting the $774 million in revenue generated over its 18-month lifespan. That figure represents the largest treasury of any crypto company outside of stablecoin giants like Tether, Circle, and Sky (formerly MakerDAO).
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