Pump.fun Buys Back $20M Worth of PUMP Tokens, Community Eyes Possible Airdrop

On July 15 at around 5 PM UTC, users on X noticed unusual activity involving the PUMP token. The crypto research and trading account Dumpster DAO was the first to report that the Pump.fun team had launched a token buyback, beginning with a small purchase of 100 SOL. Activity soon escalated as the team continued to accumulate more tokens. Later, the Pump.fun team posted on X: “Was busy bringing PUMP to the world. Now it's time to lock back in the trenches.”

According to on-chain analyst @EmberCN, the team has transferred a total of 187,770 SOL to the designated buyback wallet. As of the time of writing, 118,350 SOL has been spent to acquire 3.196 billion PUMP tokens, equivalent to approximately $20.41 million. The wallet still holds 69,420 SOL, valued at around $11.27 million.

The move has drawn comparisons to previous Pump.fun activity. Some noted that the team, which once sent funds to a centralized exchange, is now using them to repurchase PUMP tokens. The community have also compared this strategy to Letsbonk.fun, which has historically used 50% of its SOL revenue to buy and burn BONK tokens. To date, Letsbonk.fun has spent 67,974 SOL on BONK buy-and-burn efforts, which is now less than what Pump.fun has spent on acquiring its own token.

The significant amount of repurchased tokens has prompted speculation about a possible airdrop. While some believe the accumulation may precede a future distribution, there has been no official announcement. Pump.fun’s published tokenomics make no reference to an airdrop. It remains unclear whether the buybacks are part of a broader strategic plan or a precursor to further developments.

Pump.fun’s native token, PUMP, became tradable and transferable at 17:00 UTC on July 14, with the official announcement made just one hour earlier at 16:00 UTC. At the time of writing, PUMP is trading at 0.0064 USD, up 14.1 percent over the past 24 hours following the buyback news, and 60 percent above its public sale price of 0.004 USD.

Pump.fun Reclaims Market Share Lead, but BONK Still Holds Higher Market Cap

While speculation swirls around Pump.fun’s aggressive buyback campaign, recent data shows the platform has regained market share leadership from its competitor, Letsbonk.fun. Pump.fun now accounts for 49.4 percent of the market, overtaking Letsbonk.fun, which holds 41.9 percent.

In the past 24 hours, Letsbonk.fun generated $1.24 million in revenue, nearly double the $653,247 recorded by Pump.fun, according to DeFiLlama. In terms of token valuation, BONK still leads. BONK currently has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, while PUMP stands at $2.27 billion, based on data from CoinMarketCap.

Looking Ahead

The Pump.fun team has yet to clarify the purpose behind the buybacks, but the move has already captured significant market attention. With 69,420 SOL still loaded in the wallet and billions of PUMP already repurchased, market participants are closely monitoring potential next steps. Whether this signals a broader strategic initiative or future token-related developments remains to be seen.