Pump.fun Co-founder Denies $436m Cash Out, Claims It Was ‘treasury...

The Pump.fun co-founder disputed claims of a massive off-ramp and said Pump.fun’s USDC shifts were routine treasury operations.

Pseudonymous Pump.fun co-founder Sapijiju rejected claims that the project cashed out more than $436 million in stablecoins, calling the allegations “complete misinformation” from the blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain.

In an X post, Sapijiju addressed the report, insisting that none of the transferred funds were sold. He said the USDC originated from the PUMP token’s initial coin offering (ICO) and was simply redistributed to internal wallets as part of the company’s treasury management process.

“What’s happening is a part of Pump’s treasury management, where USDC from the $PUMP ICO has been transferred into different wallets so the company’s runway can be reinvested into the business,” Sapijiju. “Pump has never directly worked with Circle.”

Treasury management happens when a project allocates, stores and moves its funds, such as operating capital, ICO proceeds or reserves, to ensure it can continue running. The transfers don’t necessarily indicate selling and can involve wallet reorganization and preparing budgets for future developments.

Cointelegraph reached out to Lookonchain and Pump.fun, but had not received a response by publication.

Sapijiju’s comments came after Lookonchain reported that wallets linked to the Solana memecoin launchpad had moved $436 million in USDC to the crypto exchange Kraken since mid-October, which was widely interpreted as a large-scale cash-out.

The fund movements coincided with Pump’s monthly revenue falling below $40 million for the first time since July, declining to $27.3 million in November, according to DefiLlama data.

Despite this, data platforms DefiLlama, Arkham and Lookonchain showed that the Pump.fun-tagged wallet still held more than $855 million in stablecoins and $211 million in Solana (SOL).

Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at crypto intelligence platform Nansen, interpreted the perceived sell-off as a precursor to further selling. EmberCN said that the funds originated from institutional private placements of the PUMP token, rather than active dumping.

Source: CoinTelegraph