Pump.fun's PUMP token launched on July 14 with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) exceeding $5.5 billion after a record-breaking public sale that raised $500 million in just 12 minutes. The Solana-based memecoin was priced at $0.004 during the sale, which distributed 125 billion tokens and was exhausted across Pump.fun's platform and four centralized exchanges: Kraken, KuCoin, Bybit, and MEXC.
Despite initial momentum, PUMP's price collapsed nearly 30% within 24 hours of trading, dropping to approximately $0.005. Early data showed $34.1 million in volume within the first three hours, with buy transactions (6,210) slightly outnumbering sales (4,950). Liquidity stood at $19.3 million during this period. The token's FDV subsequently fell from $5.6 billion to $5.12 billion.
The public sale revealed significant whale participation: 202 wallets hit the $1 million hard cap, while the average purchase reached $44,209 (median: $550). Only 42.3% of 23,959 KYC-verified wallets secured tokens. Token allocation includes 33% to ICO participants, 24% to community initiatives, 20% to founders, and 13% to existing investors.
Operational issues plagued the launch, with Bybit users reporting API delays during token claims. Community backlash intensified over unfulfilled airdrop promises and concerns about VC profit-taking. Meanwhile, Binance-backed competition emerged with a bonding curve token model, threatening Pump.fun's market position.