Crypto is one of the only industries in the world where just being early can sometimes turn into serious wealth. Take Uniswap, for instance. In 2020, they airdropped 400 UNI tokens to every wallet that had interacted with the protocol before September 1, 2020[1].
At the time, they were worth around $1,200. At the peak? Almost $18,000. Just for clicking a few buttons before everyone else did.
Another classic was dYdX. They dropped tens of thousands of dollars' worth of tokens to their early users, turning casual DeFi traders into crypto-rich DeFi loyalists.
And then the Apecoin airdrop which dropped around $3 billion to Yuga Labs ecosystem owners[2].
These three mega-airdrops dropped around $12 billion of free wealth to early adopters.
And now the next mega-airdrop is here… pump.fun.
Have you used pump.fun before? Because if you have there’s some free money on its way to you.
Crypto's "Once Per Cycle" Wealth-Building Moment Is Here
We’ve entered the next phase of the crypto cycle—where smart capital moves early and retail follows late. With fundamentals stronger than ever and institutional adoption accelerating, the window to act is now. While others wait for certainty, the informed few are positioning for outsized gains.
That’s how long it took to raise $500 million in token sales, giving the PUMP token a fully diluted valuation of around $4 billion[3].
It was not open to U.S. residents (or U.K either). But that didn’t stop the hype machine from going into overdrive.
Every influencer and KOL (key opinion leader) on Solana Twitter suddenly became a $PUMP believer. And now the promise of an impending airdrop has got the market whipped up into a frenzy like it’s September 2020 again.
If you’ve ever traded on pump.fun, minted a token, there’s a chance you’re eligible for this airdrop. Maybe even a decent sized one. But will it change your life? Will it be the next UNI or dYdX?
Is pump.fun and the $PUMP token going to make you crypto-rich this cycle?
There’s a fine line between innovation and mania. And pump.fun is flirting with both sides.
However, long term I think there’s only one outcome for $PUMP.
And I think it’s best displayed by the Apecoin chart…
Apecoin was the biggest most hyped airdrop of 2021/22’s cycle.
Look at it now…
Look, who knows how $PUMP will go short term. It may absolutely scream higher defying all logic. And that’s usually when things turn lower.
The platform itself is fascinating. It's frictionless, viral, and in many ways the perfect encapsulation of Solana’s memecoin season. But like all crypto fads, speed is a double-edged sword. The faster these things rise, the faster competitors emerge, and the faster they all fall.
Case in point, LetsBonk.fun. It just smashed pump.fun in launchpad revenue this week. $7.9 million for Letsbonk vs. $3.2 million for pump.fun[4].
This is while pump.fun is launching its massive token sale! That says a lot about how things might end up for $PUMP.
The Final Word? Don’t Get PUMP’d
If you get an airdrop, congrats. I will be too. Maybe it’s a few hundred bucks. Maybe it’s more. Maybe it’s already priced in. Free money is free money, but don’t expect it to ‘retire your bloodline.’
Both the token and the airdrop could dump on you. The token could trend to zero. And unless you were in the private sales, chances are you’re just someone else’s exit liquidity.
Just remember airdrops make headlines, influencers make money, and retail makes mistakes.
The pump.fun token sale might end up being historic. But for now, it looks like another warning shot in a bull market that’s increasingly driven by speculation and social engineering.
Be alert. Be early. But don’t be the last one holding the bag.
