"Pump.fun Trading Plunges 63% Amid Memecoin Scrutiny"
1min read Trading volume on Pump.fun, a token launchpad in the Solana ecosystem, has plunged 63% from January to February 2025, data from Dune Analytics shows. The decline comes as memecoins face mounting scrutiny amid a string of scandals.
The platform's trading volume declined from $119 billion to $44 billion in the first two months of 2025, with $2.1 billion in trading activity recorded in the past four days. New token listings on Pump.fun are also down, with the number dropping below 300 per day in early March, compared to a high of nearly 1,200 tokens per day on Jan. 24.
Pump.fun's February trading volume is the lowest since October 2024 but remains the company's fourth-highest since its launch in January 2024. alon cohen, co-founder of Pump.fun, attributed the slowdown in activity to the crypto market's overall downturn. He noted that the platform's share of revenue across the entire onchain ecosystem has remained essentially the same, with revenue over the last 30 days coming in at nearly $74 million.
Memecoin trading, which had been a meta in this current crypto bull run, has taken a slide among fears of insider trading, rug pulls, and fraud. High-profile incidents, such as the so-called "Libragate," have amplified these concerns. The token launched by a group that included Hayden Davis surged in popularity after receiving an endorsement from Argentine President Javier Milei, only to be revealed as a $107 million rug pull, with 86% of investors having a realized loss of more than $1,000.
Anastasija Plotnikova, co-founder and CEO of blockchain regulatory firm Fideum, told Cointelegraph that "memecoins have evolved from community-driven social experiments into a chaotic landscape dominated by value extraction from retail investors." She noted that "insider rings, pump-and-dump schemes, and sniper groups have replaced the organic, collectible nature of original memecoins, creating an unhealthy playing field."
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has also taken notice of memecoins. In a Feb. 27 statement, the SEC confirmed that memecoins aren't securities but noted that fraud will still 