Pump.fun Faces Layoff Claims as Token Unlock Sparks Fresh Scrutiny

Pump.fun is facing renewed criticism after anonymous posts on X claimed to represent more than 40 former employees who allege they were dismissed without receiving the full value of their promised token allocations. The Solana-based memecoin launchpad has not publicly responded to the allegations.

According to crypto outlet Sandmark, Pump.fun carried out layoffs in early April after expanding too rapidly. Co-founder Noah Tweedale reportedly told employees the company had grown faster than it could efficiently manage, making restructuring necessary. Affected workers received severance equal to one week of salary for every month worked. However, several former employees claim they lost access to PUMP tokens that would have vested later, with one reportedly missing out on tokens now valued in the seven-figure range.

The controversy has drawn attention because Pump.fun burned approximately $370 million worth of repurchased PUMP tokens in April, eliminating about 36% of the circulating supply. Co-founder Alon Cohen defended the move at the time, saying every dollar not burned was being directed toward achieving the same long-term objective.

Attention has also shifted to the project's tokenomics. On July 12, the one-year lockup from the PUMP initial coin offering expired, releasing 82.5 billion tokens. Tokenomist data shows that 50 billion tokens were allocated to the team, while 32.5 billion went to existing investors. At current market prices, the team's unlocked allocation is valued at roughly $102 million.

Despite the controversy, Pump.fun continues to generate significant revenue. DefiLlama estimates the platform earned $19.1 million during the 30 days ending July 22 from trading fees, graduation fees, and Mayhem-related revenue. Daily revenue reached approximately $764,800 on July 22, representing a 22.6% increase from the previous month, while cumulative revenue has surpassed $1.07 billion since March 2024.

PUMP traded around $0.0020 on Friday, gaining nearly 6% over 24 hours. Even so, the token remains about 77% below its September 2025 peak and nearly 49% below its ICO price.

Questions remain over the company's operations. Sandmark said it could not independently verify claims of a second round of layoffs. Meanwhile, Baton Corporation Ltd., the UK entity behind Pump.fun, has yet to file overdue financial accounts with Companies House, documents that would disclose employee numbers. The company and its co-founders, Tweedale and Cohen, are also named in a securities class-action lawsuit filed in New York. Pump.fun did not immediately respond to requests for comment.