Pump.fun co-founder shuts down token launch expectations in Base content coin response

According to one of Pump.fun’s co-founders, identified on X as Alon, there won’t ever be coins from him or the Pump.fun platform or any employees, not even “stealth launches.”

Alon made the statement via a post he shared on X in response to accusations leveled at Base for insider trading and supporting a pump and dump scheme, a shrapnel from the project’s strategy of tokenizing content.

Pump.fun’s co-founder responds to backlash targeting Base

According to Alon, there’s a reality where what Base did is normal in a few years, but that time has not come, and its present actions has led to “hurt.”

“I’m a huge advocate for the vision of ‘tokenizing everything’ but you can’t change current market realities – if you launch a coin AND have social influence, that comes with responsibility.”

Alon described this responsibility as one that forces founders and top figures in the space to stick to the established rules, such as not launching or shilling other coins, not setting high expectations, and not talking about price.

He claimed these social standards aren’t dictated by himself, Pump.fun, Coinbase, or the president, but are formed by the “users that are in the trenches every single day.”

In an additional post, Alon promised that Pump.fun will continue experimenting at the intersection of social media and tokenization. He also mentioned that some of their decisions will piss people off when he talked about the restoration of Pump.fun’s livestreaming function. Pump.fun had earlier suspended the livestreaming service when token creators went to extremes to court attention for their tokens.

“But no matter what we do, we will do our very best to ensure that we’re aligned with our core user base,” he wrote before adding, “that being said: don’t expect coins from me or @pumpdotfun or any employees (no “stealth launches” either.)”

The backlash started after Base shared a token CA

On April 16, 2025, at around 19:30 UTC, Base’s official X account shocked its followers by posting about a “Base is for everyone” token, minted via Zora, an on-chain social network that converts any content into tradable ERC-20 tokens.

Base is for everyone. pic.twitter.com/gq3lLLuXO1

— Base (@base) April 16, 2025

Base quickly clarified that the token was not an official network token for Base, Coinbase, or related products, and they would “never sell these tokens,” instead tagging it as an experimental step toward tokenizing online content.

Base’s creator, Jesse Pollak, also endorsed the initiative, stating the goal was to “normalize putting all content on-chain.” Despite the endorsement from Base, the token endured extreme volatility not long after launch.

Within an hour of the launch, its market cap ran up to $17.1 million, then it crashed by nearly 90-95% in the next 20 minutes, falling to under $1.9 million, as liquidity and attention shifted.

The rapid pump-and-dump cycle triggered accusations of a “rug pull,” with some users on X  accusing Base of intentionally hyping up and abandoning the token while others alleged there was insider trading.

A report from Lookonchain revealed that three wallets purchased large amounts of the token just before Base’s official X post, which made them approximately $666,000 combined.

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