The Wild Ascent of Memecoin Marvels: Discover Pump.Fun!

Within some of the internet’s more peculiar corners, a unicorn with human breasts, a cheetah with a cigarette, and an animated Elon Musk dressed in traditional attire gather closely together—the ensemble of a bizarre experience. A Word Art sign crowns the page, an incongruous relic. Symbols sparkle, jiggle, leap, and otherwise evade the observant gaze. Faintly readable phrases flicker in green, red, and yellow, only to disappear quickly.

However, beneath this eruption of internet oddities and rudimentary web aesthetics lies one of the swiftest-growing cryptocurrency enterprises ever: Pump.Fun, a service designed for launching memecoins, a form of crypto token whose value fluctuates with the popularity of the memes it represents.

The platform was launched in January 2024. Over the past 12 months, reports from external sources indicate it has generated over $350 million in earnings through a 1 percent fee on transactions.

Pump.Fun was founded by three entrepreneurs in their twenties: Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen, and Dylan Kerler. The trio initially engaged in memecoin trading themselves but grew weary of becoming prey to rug pulls—a scam where a token issuer absconds with the money, leaving investors holding valueless tokens.

“Investing in memecoins was a highly insecure practice… Everything seemed intended to extract funds from individuals,” Tweedale stated to WIRED in an interview last year. “The concept behind Pump was to create something where everyone had an equal opportunity.”

The three co-founders of Pump.Fun, who crossed paths in England, have sought to maintain their anonymity—Tweedale and Cohen still publicly utilize their respective online aliases, Sapijiju and A1on, while Kerler is minimally associated with Pump.Fun. Nonetheless, their identities came to light last year in corporate filings associated with the venture.

Tweedale consented to meet with WIRED but only if the location and specifics of his appearance remained undisclosed. During our encounter, he appeared sincere but somewhat anxious—and he communicated at a rapid pace. He avoided answering queries regarding the location of the Pump.Fun operation or the size of its workforce.

The desire for secrecy reflects an attitude prevalent in the crypto community that the right to privacy is paramount, Tweedale asserts. However, it is also tied to “personal security and safety,” he notes. Given the volume of cryptocurrency transacted through Pump.Fun wallets, the team could potentially be targeted by extortionists.

Tweedale asserts that the founders aim to become more visible in the future. Yet, for now, they face the challenge of effectively reinvesting the revenue generated by Pump.Fun to fortify and expand the platform amid heightened scrutiny and anticipated challenges. “We’re not here to make a fast profit, shut down the website, and disappear. We aspire to create something enduring,” Tweedale emphasizes.

Tweedale envisions the long-term goal as transforming Pump.Fun from a simple memecoin launchpad into a rival to the largest social networks, where the majority of profits benefit users and creators. “Envision Instagram or TikTok, where everything is investable,” he remarks. “The Pump UI—everything we currently have—is the most primitive form of what we aspire to achieve.”

Prior to Pump.Fun, there were relatively few memecoins introduced; only Dogecoin, the pioneering memecoin, along with a few others—like Shiba Inu, Pepe, and Bonk—gained any significant visibility. The intricate nature of creating a memecoin and the costs associated with providing the liquidity needed for easy trading constrained the number launched.