Pump.fun’s native token, PUMP, plunged over 19% on Wednesday after Co-founder Alon Cohen confirmed that the much-anticipated airdrop won’t happen anytime soon. The token has now shed nearly 50% of its value within a week of its launch.
Initially priced at $0.004 during its pre-sale, PUMP briefly spiked to $0.0067 after the token generation event (TGE) but failed to hold those gains. By Tuesday, it had fallen below its ICO price. Following Cohen’s latest comments during a live interview with crypto influencer ThreadGuy, the token dropped further to $0.003054.
“When it comes to the airdrop, as we promised when we initially announced the TGE, there will be an airdrop,” Cohen said. “But it’s not going to be taking place in the immediate future. We’ll communicate the details once they’re available.”
He stressed the team’s focus on ensuring the airdrop is “meaningful” and executed well. “We want to reward the community that’s helped build the platform over the past year and a half,” he added, while reiterating that long-term ecosystem growth is currently the priority.
The token slid 12% within hours of the interview. Many in the community had expected the airdrop soon after the TGE, and the delay was seen as a reversal of momentum.
Adding to the pressure, on-chain data from Lookonchain showed that wallets linked to private-sale investors offloaded more than 1.2 billion PUMP tokens at $0.003 in just two hours, a sell-off worth roughly $3.8 million and resulting in a significant loss.
The heavy selloff dragged PUMP’s price below its ICO level, sparking even more selling as traders reacted to the technical breakdown. Still, not everyone is backing out. Well-known crypto figure Jeffrey Huang, aka Machi Big Brother, has actually added to his PUMP holdings, despite being down over $5.8 million.
PUMP’s sharp decline is typical of what’s seen in meme coin markets, where prices swing wildly based on hype and talk of airdrops. Pump.fun, known for letting users launch and trade meme tokens on Solana, had gained a lot of early attention for that reason. But the combination of delayed rewards and large token unlocks has now dampened that enthusiasm.
As of Wednesday, PUMP’s market cap stood at $1.08 billion, with 24-hour trading volume surging 62% to $942 million, suggesting high activity, but not necessarily strong conviction.
For now, all eyes are on when and how the airdrop details will be finalized.
Also Read: PUMP Token Price Soars 13% After $2.3M Buyback by Pump.fun
