What is currently happening at Pump.fun, following the revelation of the transfer of $436 million in USDC stablecoins to the Kraken platform? Tempers are running high, especially given that the official accounts appear to be inactive. Let’s take stock of the situation…
Pump.fun: a $436 million transfer that raises questions
The significant decline currently affecting the cryptocurrency market is stirring up emotions and fueling all kinds of speculation. It must be said that these difficult periods often coincide with potentially dubious transactions carried out by projects in difficulty.
This is currently the case for Pump.fun, a protocol specializing in the creation of memecoins, following the revelation by the X Lookonchain account of a series of transfers to the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange platform, totaling $436 million.
According to Lookonchain, these transfers are part of a large cash-out operation that has been underway since October 15, involving USDC stablecoins as well as Solana’s SOL cryptocurrency.
Since October 15, Pump.fun has deposited $436.5 million in USDC on Kraken. Over the same period, $537.6 million in USDC has been transferred from Kraken to Circle via the DTQK7G wallet. Between May 19, 2024, and August 12, 2025, Pump.fun sold a total of 4.19 million SOL ($757 million) at an average price of $181. Of this amount, 264,373 SOL were sold on-chain for $41.64 million, while 3.93 million SOL ($715.5 million) were deposited on Kraken.
An operation between speculation and denial
This information quickly spread far and wide. This gave the X account named Aixbt the opportunity to revisit the operating model of Pump.fun, whose fees are largely derived from the “99.3% launch failures” of its users’ memecoins.
This is a veritable “extraction mechanism,” made all the more apparent by the total lack of response or even posts on the official Pump.fun account—as well as from its main representative, Alon—since November 14, when the accusation was made.
A situation that the Sapijiju account, also attributed to one of the co-founders of Pump.fun, quickly remedied by stating that he and his colleagues had “no involvement in the transactions between Kraken and Circle” mentioned by the Lookonchain account.
According to his statements, “zero dollars were cashed in” since these transactions were part of “the management of Pump.fun’s treasury, with USDC coming from the PUMP token ICO.” Their transfer to different wallets would therefore serve to reinvest the company’s cash flow into its business.
It also explains that “Pump.fun has never worked directly with Circle,” the company that issues USDC. This explanation is shared by the official Pump.fun account, which seems to have come back to life in the last few hours.
