Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has announced a major strategic shift with the launch of Pump Fund, a new investment arm designed to support early-stage startups both inside and outside the crypto space. The move marks the platform’s first significant step away from its core memecoin-focused business as trading activity on Pump.fun continues to cool from its early 2025 peak.
Pump Fund will debut alongside a $3 million hackathon, during which up to 12 projects will receive $250,000 each at a $10 million valuation. According to Pump.fun, the fund aims to align itself with founders over the long term, offering not only capital but also mentorship from the platform’s founding team.
Pump Fund Hackathon Puts the Market in Charge
The 30-day hackathon introduces a model where participants create a token, publicly share progress updates, and let the market determine a project’s success. Pump.fun says this approach removes the traditional gatekeeping of venture capital and replaces it with real user demand.
Rather than pitching to judges or VCs, founders rely on tokenization to attract early supporters who believe in their idea. Pump.fun argues that this system allows users to become both customers and investors from day one, creating instant liquidity and faster feedback loops.
The fund stated it is open to projects of “all maturities, verticals, and traction,” with a strong preference for teams that move quickly, communicate openly, and demonstrate long-term viability beyond short-term hype.
Declining Trading Volumes Push Pump.fun Toward Diversification
Pump.fun’s expansion comes as trading volumes on the platform have dropped significantly from their highs. Monthly trading volume peaked at $11.75 billion in January 2025, according to Token Terminal, just one year after the platform’s launch. Since then, activity has steadily declined, with December volumes falling to $2.43 billion as appetite for speculative assets like memecoins weakened amid broader market uncertainty.
Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen said the past few years in crypto have shown that demand for strong founders remains high regardless of market conditions. He noted that users increasingly enjoy backing new ideas early, especially when tokenization allows projects to secure funding instantly.
Cohen added that trends such as AI-driven crypto projects have demonstrated how powerful early-stage tokenization can be, highlighting a large, untapped pool of potential users and investors. With Pump Fund, Pump.fun is betting that supporting builders directly will help it stay relevant as the memecoin cycle matures.
