Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has withdrawn more than $436 million in stablecoins since mid-October, highlighting a slowdown in speculative crypto trading following last month’s market turbulence.
Market reaction and investor concerns
According to blockchain data from Lookonchain, the Solana-based platform transferred the funds in USDC to Kraken beginning a week after the October market crash wiped $19 billion from the crypto ecosystem.
The timing suggests the platform’s operators were taking profits amid declining trading activity.
Monthly income fell below $40 million for the first time since July, dropping to $27.3 million in November, down 53% from $58.9 million in September, according to DefiLlama. The large transfers have sparked concern among crypto investors, many viewing the move as a potential signal of further selling.
Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at crypto intelligence platform Nansen, said the trend reflects ongoing caution among retail investors.
“Retail got burned repeatedly over the past few months, so the drop-off we’re seeing now is a continuation of that,” Sondergaard explained.
Adding:
“This also isn’t the first time we’ve seen reports of large sell-offs from Pump.fun, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they continued selling from their holdings.”
What the wallet still holds
Despite the $436 million cash-out, the Pump.fun wallet still holds roughly $855 million in stablecoins and $211 million in Solana (SOL), according to Arkham data.
On-chain analyst EmberCN suggested that the transfer likely represented a withdrawal rather than an immediate sell-off, originating from institutional private placements of the $PUMP token in June, which were priced at $0.004.
Crypto investors have been vocal on social media.
One user, SK, quipped on X: “Pump.fun moving like a full-time liquidation machine while everyone else is out here ‘buying dips’ that never stop dipping.”
To understand how Pump.fun was able to navigate recent market pressures, it helps to look at the platform’s strategic moves earlier this year, particularly the launch of Project Ascend.
Project Ascend laid the groundwork for Pump.fun’s comeback
Several months before the recent $436 million cash-out, Pump.fun had staged a strategic comeback with the launch of Project Ascend in September 2025. The initiative overhauled the platform’s fee system and community features, aiming to boost creator earnings and make memecoin projects more sustainable.
At the heart of Project Ascend was Dynamic Fees V1, which replaced flat fees with a market cap based system.
Successful tokens paid lower fees, while smaller projects received a funding boost, allowing them to invest in marketing, exchange listings, and ecosystem growth.
Co-founder Alon Cohen explained the reasoning:
“For us as a space to grow 100x, we need far more success cases. Coins with value that can last and giving retail genuine opportunities in making money. At the moment, we’re really limited at these kinds of opportunities if solid teams don’t want to launch coins.”
The project also introduced a streamlined Community Takeover (CTO) feature, cutting approval times from days to just hours. This allowed communities to redirect creator fees to new leaders if the original creator stepped back, reinforcing active engagement and accountability.
The initiative coincided with Pump.fun reclaiming market share from competitors like Bonkfun. By August, the platform’s revenue had jumped to $35 million, restoring dominance in the Solana launchpad sector.
Oleksii Shumak
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