Memecoin platform Pump.fun made crypto history this weekend with its 【$500 million】 initial coin offering (ICO) selling out in just 12 minutes. The Solana-based project allocated 33% of its 1 trillion PUMP token supply to the sale, with institutional investors securing 18% and retail participants claiming 15%.
The remaining tokens were distributed between ecosystem development (24%) and existing investors (13%). This rapid fundraising success comes despite memecoins' recent downturn after being 2024's top-performing crypto assets. ——The ICO's speed eclipses traditional venture capital timelines——, demonstrating blockchain's capital formation potential.
Dragonfly Capital's Haseeb Qureshi praised the offering as potentially becoming "one of the highest-grossing revenue tokens." However, critics like TFTC's Mary Bent condemned such platforms as "Pied Pipers leading Gen Z to ruin." The debate highlights crypto's ongoing tension between innovation and speculation.
Coinbase's Conor Grogan revealed startling data about automated token creation, noting one individual generated approximately 18,000 Pump.fun tokens through continuous daily activity. This automation raises questions about the platform's creator ecosystem authenticity.
The ICO's success may revive a fundraising model that declined under former SEC chair Gary Gensler's regulatory crackdowns. As of press time, the SEC hadn't commented on whether it considers PUMP a security, leaving legal questions unanswered.