Pump.Fun Founder Who Slammed Presales as Scams Is Now Launching One—Here’s Why

From critic to creator—the Pump.Fun founder's 180 on presales sparks debate.

Once a vocal opponent of crypto presales, labeling them outright scams, the Pump.Fun founder is now steering the ship on one. The irony? Thicker than a Wall Street prospectus.

What changed? Market pressure, opportunism, or just another Tuesday in DeFi? The move raises eyebrows but fits crypto’s chaotic playbook—where principles often take a backseat to profit.

Love it or hate it, the pivot’s a masterclass in crypto’s ‘adapt or die’ ethos. Just don’t call it hypocrisy—call it evolution (with a side of selective memory).

PUMP Token Launch Details

Earlier this week, Gate.io briefly published launch details for PUMP before deleting them without explanation. With the latest announcement, we can now validate the same details.

The presale will offer 150 billion tokens out of a total supply of 1 trillion, or 15% of the total supply. 

Also, Pump.fun has allocated 33% of the total supply to the ICO phase, suggesting future rounds or continued exchange offerings beyond July 12.

Additional allocations include 20% for the team, 13% for existing investors, and 24% for community and ecosystem initiatives. Smaller slices are designated for livestreaming, liquidity, and exchange support. 

Overall, the tokenomics appear designed to fund long-term development while trying to balance concerns about insider control.

However, some of Alon’s previously viral Twitter posts are now recirculating. He’s been outspoken in the past about the problems with presales and the lack of transparency around CEX listings.

Previously, the Pump.Fun co-founder argued that presales benefit insiders at the expense of community participants. 

He also said in 2025: Exchange listings are dead; no transparency around listing leads to foulplay and shitty coin selection. pic.twitter.com/zG68ONzXeF

That makes the decision to go the centralized route with a geographically restricted presale—excluding users in the US and UK—feel like a sharp pivot from Pump.fun’s earlier ethos of permissionless, onchain experimentation.

Whether the MOVE signals a pragmatic evolution or a step toward dilution of values, the PUMP token launch will be a major moment—not just for the platform, but for Solana’s broader meme coin economy.

Pump.fun has faced a few setbacks recently, as it lost its place as the largest meme coin launchpad amidst systemic bot trading allegations. 

Still, it remains a very prominent platform, and this token presale has encouraged a great deal of community hype.