Solana’s price recovered from its 2.4% drop after popular memecoin launcher Pump.fun went on an SOL sell-off, which ignited a debate among crypto investors and sparked comparisons between the launchpad’s team and the Ethereum Foundation.
Solana-Based Launchpad Sells 40,000 SOL
Pump.fun made the headlines after sending another batch of SOL to crypto exchanges. In Q3, the Solana-based token launchpad stole the spotlight after its popularity grew amid the memecoin frenzy. It became popular among users and influencers who sought to create tokens without the complexity or the high costs of launching a full project.
At one point, the memecoin launcher surpassed Ethereum and most protocols on Solana, generating two and three times more fees and revenue than these projects. Since its creation, Pump.fun has deployed over 2.58 million tokens, generating a Total Revenue of 969,945 SOL, worth around $162 million.
According to the on-chain data analysis firm Lookonchain, the Pump.fun’s Fee Account has sold 503,343 SOL, valued at $78.7 million at an average price of $156.4. On Monday night, the memecoin launcher went on another sell-off, selling 40,000 SOL, worth $6.68 million.
Pump.fun tranfers 40,000 SOL to Kraken. Source: Lookonchain on X
The sale sparked a debate among some crypto investors, who considered that Pump.fun’s team should do over-the-counter (OTC) sales to “stop the selling pressure” on SOL. Solana’s price declined 2.4% following the report, moving from the $166 mark to the $163 support level.
However, SOL quickly recovered from the dip, surging to the $168 zone before sitting at the $166 zone again. Despite the mild drop and quick recovery, investors noted that previous Pump.fun’s selloffs have seemingly added selling pressure and affected Solana’s short-term performance.
The launchpad’s fee account still holds 287,282 SOL, worth over $47.5 million.
Pump.Fun’s Sell-Off Draws Ethereum Foundation Comparison
The sell-off news also re-ignited a hot topic among the crypto community. Investors debated again whether teams should take profit from the projects or hold instead. Some X users compared Pump.fun’s team to the Ethereum Foundation, which has been heavily criticized for selling ETH.
As reported by Bitcoinist, the Ethereum Foundation and Ethereum’s founder, Vitalik Buterin, have faced backlash for their on-chain activity. Buterin has clarified the nature of several ETH transfers and opened a conversation about privacy and Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
One user defended Pump.fun’s transactions, arguing that people comparing the launchpad’s team with the Ethereum Foundation didn’t consider that the former “earned their SOL by providing a service people love”. At the same time, the latter “got their ETH from pre-mined at ICO.”
Conversely, another community member disputed the comparison, stating that Pump.fun is “selling more SOL than ETH foundation selling ETH.” The user added that the memecoin launcher reminded them of “Opensea on its prime days.”
Amid the criticism, some investors suggested using the project’s revenue to invest in Pump.fun-launched tokens, as around 98% of the memecoins created on the platform never get listed on Raydium:
How based would it be if they just bought back top pump fun memes with at least a chunk of that money instead? Like 50% into buybacks of top 5 or top 10 pump fun memecoins by mc, gives extra incentive to be a top pump fun meme coin.
As of this writing, SOL is trading at $166.3, a 1.2% surge in the daily timeframe.
Solana (SOL) performance in the three-day chart. Source: SOLUSDT on TradingView
