Pump.fun laid off workers before they received millions in PUMP tokens: Report

Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun reportedly fired employees two months before they were due to receive PUMP tokens worth millions of dollars.

According to a Friday Sandmark report, at least one Pump.fun worker was due to receive PUMP tokens worth in the seven-figure range. The news outlet reported that Pump.fun co-founder Noah Tweedale said the company “grew too quickly,” resulting in layoffs of an undisclosed number of employees. 

The employees were reportedly fired in April, just two months before they were due to start receiving the company’s tokens based on agreements signed in 2025. The agreements, according to documents viewed by Sandmark, said that Pump.fun would unlock a quarter of the employees’ allocated tokens in one year, scheduled for June 2026.

Pump.fun has previously been the target of a lawsuit involving allegations the company operated a “rigged” machine for investors and another one regarding its maximal extractable value (MEV) practices. 

At the time of publication, the price of PUMP was $0.002113, a 7.5% increase over the previous 24 hours.

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