Pump.fun's Celeb Memecoin Craze

Pump.fun, the Solana-based memecoin generator, has become a popular platform for creating personalized tokens, especially among celebrities. Recently, Caitlyn Jenner's Twitter account has been actively promoting her own token, $JENNER, which was launched on Pump.fun earlier this week. The bizarre nature of the promotional videos has led to some speculation about the authenticity of the content, with some suggesting that Jenner’s account might have been compromised using deepfakes to inorganically raise the token's value.

Adding to the frenzy, Iggy Azalea launched her own memecoin, $MOTHER, amid the excitement. Azalea also exposed a scammer who had allegedly deceived her, Jenner, and other celebrities with fraudulent memecoin schemes. Despite the confusion, most believe Jenner’s videos are legitimate, possibly encouraged by her publicist to capitalise on the recent trend of celeb memecoins.

The combined trading volume for tokens like $JENNER, Azalea’s $MOTHER, and Davido’s memecoin has reached about $400 million in recent days. However, the tokens have experienced significant volatility, with $JENNER’s value plummeting by over 85% after an initial surge to $43.6 million. Iggy's token is experiencing similar fluctuations, and this volatility may continue.

Amongst all of this, Pump.fun has clearly found a successful niche. Over three-quarters of a million tokens have been launched on the platform, which charges a 1% fee on trades and a small amount of SOL for tokens that reach live trading on Raydium. This has resulted in substantial revenue, with the platform earning a record $1.47 million in SOL fees in a single day recently, and accumulating nearly $28.9 million in SOL fees since its launch in January.

While the exact profit margins are unknown, the Pump.fun wallet has seen $18.2 million in outflows. The purpose of these outflows is not entirely clear but is not considered unusual, despite many occurring during a trading pause after a series of flash loan attacks that resulted in $2 million in losses.