The newly launched Pump.fun token continues to spiral, causing losses for both early ICO buyers and subsequent traders. PUMP erased another 20% of its price after its long-awaited airdrop was delayed yet again.
PUMP is down another 20%, from $0.0038 down to $0.0030 after an eventual airdrop to retail traders was delayed once again. PUMP has lost its positions since the ICO, which valued the company at $4B. Currently, the project has yet to recover this valuation level and regain its reputation.
PUMP’s slide also coincides with a shift in the fee structure of Pump.fun, as the platform no longer relies on retail bets on new tokens. The platform still produces $1.42M in daily fees, though some come from its native DEX.
The project’s co-founder Alon Cohen mentioned that there will not be an airdrop “in the near future” during a recent livestream, despite the plans to distribute some of the remaining PUMP tokens.
Earlier, @a1lon9 hinted at delaying the airdrop, without mentioning it explicitly.
they said it would be on the 2nd, then the 12th, then the 15th, now they’re saying the 2nd again
maybe you'll figure it out
— alon (@a1lon9) July 21, 2025
Pump.fun was expected to launch a token through an airdrop and some form of point farming as a way to reward the “trenches” for their activity. In the past year, the platform has mostly extracted value from the Solana ecosystem by collecting fees and selling SOL regularly.
One of the expectations was that Pump.fun would release some of the tokens as an airdrop to retail. Currently, Pump.fun is focusing on its creator reward program. The platform is selecting some of its top projects to grant CTO status and share special creator rewards as part of the daily fees.
Community fees were first announced on July 18, giving a boost to selected large-scale projects.
Instead of carrying minor tokens from the trenches, which rarely graduate, Pump.fun has switched to high-profile assets, with dedicated teams and a presence on social media. The platform aims to expand its token creation and trading model, moving away from relying on the trenches.
Additionally, LetsBonk has also taken away some of the token creator whales from Pump.fun, offering higher activity and a new community of retail traders.
Machi Big Brother, known for his involvement with multiple defunct crypto projects, tried to show his support for PUMP by opening a long position on Hyperliquid.
The unrealized loss ranged between $6.14M and up to $8.8M at one point. The trader is also long on ETH and HYPE, getting caught in the sudden market reversal. PUMP was still the biggest loss-causing asset despite the 5X leverage. The positions of Machi Big Brother coincide with another whale’s move to long multiple coins, betting on a market reversal.
For now, Machi Big Brother keeps adding to the long position to avoid liquidation. PUMP retains its downward trend, with no relief rallies since its launch.
On Hyperliquid, short positions dominate for PUMP, with 30 whales relying on further price drops. A total of 18 whales are longing PUMP, of which the position of Machi Big Brother has the biggest unrealized loss.
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