Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Asher (@Asher_0210)
Even though the Meme market has cooled significantly from its peak, Pump.fun remains one of the most profitable protocols in Web3. According to DefiLlama data, Pump.fun generated $28.4 million in revenue over the past 30 days, surpassing Polymarket ($22.12 million in monthly revenue) and trailing only Hyperliquid ($43.93 million in monthly revenue).
Monthly Revenue Ranking of Web3 Protocols
When someone launches a token, it takes a fee; when someone trades, it takes a fee. From its creation to its collapse, a meme coin generates fees on every single transaction. Since its launch over two years ago, Pump.fun has issued more than 12 million tokens and accumulated approximately $1.05 billion in revenue, becoming the first app on Solana to surpass $1 billion in earnings.
Pump.fun uses a portion of its revenue to repurchase and burn PUMP tokens, turning platform earnings into token buy pressure. But at 10 PM last night, this value cycle faced its greatest test: the first unlock of team and investor tokens, totaling 82.5 billion PUMP, representing 8.25% of the total supply and equivalent to 20.23% of the pre-unlock circulating supply, with a value of approximately $125 million.
In comparison, PUMP's trading volume over the past 24 hours was only $28 million. Will this potential $125 million selling pressure cause PUMP's price to crash dramatically? How much of it can the platform’s buybacks absorb? Is PUMP still worth buying?
Over 129 billion PUMP tokens were burned just in April—why is this still not enough to withstand unlocking pressure?
On April 29 of this year, Pump.fun burned 129 billion PUMP tokens at once, accounting for 12.9% of the maximum supply—the largest burn in PUMP's history.
In terms of quantity, the 12.9 billion PUMP tokens burned exceed the 8.25 billion tokens unlocked in this release, but they cannot be directly offset. Most of the burned PUMP tokens had already been repurchased by the platform and held in a dedicated wallet, meaning they were never freely circulating in the market. The concentrated burn simply permanently removed these tokens; it did not create an additional 12.9 billion purchase orders on April 1st.
This unlock is exactly the opposite: 82.5 billion tokens previously locked for the team and investors have now become eligible for market entry since last night. April saw a reduction in the total reported supply, while July brings an increase in potentially sellable tokens.
Moreover, 82.5 billion is only the first tranche. The team and investors collectively hold 330 billion PUMP tokens, and only one-quarter of this amount is being unlocked now, leaving 247.5 billion still locked. Notably, an additional 240 billion community tokens have not yet been assigned a clear release schedule.
PUMP token allocation chart
The two parts combined total 48.75 billion tokens, equivalent to 1.2 times the circulating supply before unlocking. The market must not only absorb the immediate 8.25 billion tokens but also contend with ongoing uncertainty regarding future supply.
When unlocking the gate, buybacks are receding.
The most consistent source of buying pressure on Pump.fun in the past has been the platform's token buybacks.
After the buyback program launched in July 2025, Pump.fun allocated 100% of net protocol fees toward purchasing PUMP. In September last year, monthly buybacks reached $55.3 million, exceeding the protocol’s $42.8 million in revenue for that same month.
However, in April of this year, Pump.fun announced it would reduce its buyback ratio from 100% to 50%, with the remaining half retained by the company for hiring, marketing, and acquisitions. By June of this year, PUMP’s monthly buyback amount had dropped to just $9.2 million, a decline of over 80% from its peak.
Comparison Chart of PUMP Income and Token Buybacks
When viewed over a six-month period, the disparity becomes even more pronounced. In the second half of 2025, Pump.fun invested approximately $217 million to repurchase PUMP; in the first half of 2026, it invested only $72.2 million—a 67% decline—while protocol revenue during the same period fell by just 18%.
Pump.fun is still profitable, but the actual funds flowing into PUMP have decreased significantly. Based on the $9.2 million buyback volume in June, selling just 7% of the unlocked tokens would be enough to offset the platform’s monthly buybacks.
Among the lesser options, PUMP remains a scarce asset in a bear market.
Selling pressure is evident, but across the entire market, very few platforms can consistently generate high revenues.
Hyperliquid, which generates higher revenue than Pump.fun, has earned approximately $43.93 million in protocol revenue over the past 30 days, yet HYPE’s current market cap is nearing $15 billion—more than 20 times that of PUMP. Polymarket generated about $22.12 million in revenue over the same period and has not yet issued a token; however, its previously reported funding valuation already reached $15 billion. Even if it issues a token in the future, the valuation is unlikely to be low.
In comparison, Pump.fun generated $28.4 million in revenue over the past 30 days, while the PUMP token’s market cap stands at only around $610 million. It faces unlocking pressure and shrinking buybacks, but at least the platform’s revenue is genuine, its business model is stable, and the token has already declined to a lower valuation.
More importantly, Pump.fun does not rely on any single viral meme coin; as long as the market continues to issue and trade new tokens, the platform can consistently collect fees. Betting on PUMP is not essentially a bet on the next meme coin, but rather a bet that the meme market will continue to generate hype regardless of bull or bear conditions, and that Pump.fun will maintain its position as a key traffic gateway.
In a bear market, selecting assets for dollar-cost averaging isn't about finding flawless projects, but rather prioritizing protocols that still have users, are still generating profits, and retain the ability to repurchase tokens. From this perspective, PUMP isn't perfect, but it remains one of the few platform tokens with high income potential whose valuation hasn't yet been pushed to extreme levels.
The unlocking of 82.5 billion tokens tests short-term absorption capacity, but it’s Pump.fun’s revenue that ultimately determines how far PUMP can go. As long as this meme machine continues to generate profits, PUMP doesn’t have to follow the script of “unlocking equals zero.” Right now, it may be an excellent opportunity for long-term dollar-cost averaging.