Pump.Fun token launchpad released its mobile versions moving closer to its goal of becoming a social app. The powerhouse of meme coins is as busy as ever, but mounting criticism is taking a toll on the chances of long-term success.
Pump.fun announced yesterday the launch of its mobile application for iOS and Android devices. The app enables users to create tokens for free, buy and sell tokens rapidly, create watchlists, and manage portfolios.
In line with the founder's vision of transforming it into a social app, the mobile version has a more intuitive interface for community interactions. The mobile app integrates the Farcaster protocol, allowing users with a Farcaster account to log in and discuss the tokens.
Any day that activity on Pump Fun declines, there will be a string of comments on social media clamoring for its demise. Not soon after, the numbers get back on track, forcing those who want the platform to fail to retract to non-data-based criticism.
Launched a year ago, the app was the main driver of the meme-coin frenzy that took hold of the cryptocurrency space in 2024 and brought thousands of new users into the crypto space.
Yet, by making token launching accessible to anyone with $2, Pump.Fun has given rise to novel challenges, such as an epidemic of pump-and-dump schemes, and exacerbated previous ones, including liquidity fragmentation.
According to data from Dune Analytics, yesterday there were more than 211 thousand active addresses on Pump.Fun, of which almost 70,000 were new. These addresses contributed to a daily volume of $184 million.
On February 11, there had been over 54,000 launches on the platform, just 20,000 shy of its all-time high of 72,000 two weeks ago.
The platform is now the dominant token launch pad in the crypto ecosystem, with over 50% of the market.
Since its inception, 7,629,807 tokens have been launched, which, given the 1% fee charged on all transactions, has earned its creators over half a billion in revenue.
When Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen, and Dylan Keller created Pump Dot Fun, their goal was to build a space where trading meme coins was safer and easier than any of the alternatives at the time.
The plan both succeeded and backfired.
Pump.Fun's bonding curve scheme was able to stop the kind of soft rug pulls where liquidity is suddenly drained by its creators; it also got the space rid of the schemes that relied on asking users to send tokens to unknown wallets.
Yet, by making the launch of the token just a couple of dollars and a few clicks away, it created an easy way for grifters and scammers to profit from other traders.
Pump-and-dump schemes, where some traders artificially inflate the price of an asset and then quickly sell their holdings once prices rise leaving other investors with significant losses. The schemes have been out of control ever since the meme-coin launched by President Trump followed the same price trajectory as all coins that are the product of market manipulation.
The situation has led to users holding tokens for really small timeframes so as to avoid being rugged, leading to launches of projects that have longer-term time frames—such as the $JELLY and the $VVV tokens—being Pumped and dumped in exactly the same way as any other meme-coin.
According to data from The Block, it has also led to a significant decrease in tokens graduating to Raydium.
"I am all for democratizing investing and trading, but this isn't it," wrote a user on X.
Pump.Fun was created as a social app where "everything is investible."
While exciting in theory, in practice, it created an incentive structure for the promotion of violent and sexual content on the platform.
Pump.Fun has tried to curb the problem by suspending live streaming on its website, but a long-term solution that allows the platform to work as other social apps hasn't been achieved yet.
Further hindering its future plans, the meme-coin launch pad is now facing at least two lawsuits in the United States for its role in hosting projects with criminal intents.
Retail investors hoping to get rich in one click continue to launch and trade tokens on the platform at full speed.
Yet, mounting criticism, an epidemic of pump-and-dump schemes, and lawsuits have led to sentiment changing about the platform and growing exhaustion amongst traders, putting into question the ability of Pump.Fun to become the social app, its founder's ambition.