Pump.fun Launches Pump Fund
Meme coin launchpad Pump.fun is taking its first major step beyond meme-driven token launches with the creation of a new investment arm designed to support early-stage startups. The company announced on Monday that it is launching Pump Fund alongside a $3 million hackathon initiative, which will back 12 selected projects with $250,000 each at a $10 million valuation.
Unlike Pump.fun’s original focus, the new investment arm is not limited to crypto-native ideas. The firm said Pump Fund will align itself with projects over the long term and is open to backing startups across all industries, maturity levels, and traction profiles.
In addition to capital, selected teams will receive mentorship directly from Pump.fun’s founders, with an emphasis on builders who move quickly and communicate transparently with their communities. The company said it will evaluate not only early product or social traction, but also the long-term viability of each project.
The accompanying hackathon will run for 30 days and introduces a market-driven funding model. Participants are required to create a token, regularly share progress updates, and allow open market activity to determine whether their project gains traction. Pump.fun framed this approach as a departure from traditional venture capital dynamics, and argued that tokenization enables users themselves to act as judges and early backers by providing liquidity.
Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen said on X that despite shifting market cycles, demand for strong founders is still exceptionally high among traders and long-term capital allocators. He explained that over the past several years, users have consistently shown enthusiasm for backing new ideas at an early stage, particularly when instant liquidity allows projects to raise capital without relying on conventional gatekeepers.
The strategic pivot comes as activity on Pump.fun has declined from its peak during the meme coin boom of late 2024 and early 2025. According to Token Terminal, Pump.fun recorded an all-time high monthly trading volume of $11.75 billion in January of 2025, just one year after launch. Since then, volumes have steadily fallen, with December trading totaling $2.43 billion.
Meme Coin Traders Lock In Profits
Meanwhile, it seemed like meme coin traders were locking in profits on Monday after a strong start to the year, as a sharp spike in trading activity coincided with a drop in overall market value.
Data showed that meme coin trading volume surged to $5.62 billion, which was a 106% increase from the previous day, even as the sector’s combined market capitalization fell by 6%. The divergence between rising volume and falling market value suggested that traders were actively rotating capital rather than deploying fresh funds into the market.
Memem coin market cap over the past week (Source: TradingView)
After the initial surge, meme coin trading volume cooled quickly, dropping to around $3.6 billion, down more than 24% on the day. Analysts said this pattern is consistent with short-term speculative behavior rather than sustained momentum.
The pullback followed a strong opening to the year for meme coins. Sector-wide market cap climbed rapidly from roughly $38 billion on Dec. 29 to $47.7 billion by Jan. 5, before losing steam in subsequent sessions. While the rally reignited interest in high-profile meme tokens, analysts warned that such gains are often fragile.
Kadan Stadelmann, chief technology officer at Komodo Platform, believes meme coin rallies are typically driven by speculation rather than fundamentals, making them more prone to sharp reversals. He explained that constant capital rotation between meme tokens frequently leads to price declines in some assets even as others temporarily appreciate.
Number of cryptocurrency failures by year (Source: Shaun Paul Lee)
The latest volatility also comes against the backdrop of a difficult year for speculative crypto assets. The number of failed crypto projects climbed to more than 11.6 million in 2025, the highest annual total on record. The data sheds some light on just how turbulent market conditions disproportionately impacted meme coins, which tend to lack long-term utility and are more vulnerable to shifts in trader sentiment.