Whale $PUMP Suffers $12M Loss

According to on-chain analytics from Lookonchain, the wallet address 3QB9kHf37NC2xAKTBfPyBve6fNt6TPXdUS1AvVwbgfuh (abbreviated as 3QB9kH) accumulated 3.806 billion $PUMP tokens on the Binance exchange during the period from September 12 to November 4, 2025. The total investment amounted to $19.53 million at an average entry price of $0.00513 per token. Three days later, the entire volume was transferred to the FalconX trading platform for sale, where its value at that time was only $7.3 million. This resulted in losses exceeding $12 million, or -62% of the initial investment.

$PUMP is the native token of the Pump.fun platform, which is one of the leading tools for launching meme coins on the Solana blockchain. Launched in 2024, Pump.fun quickly gained popularity due to the simplicity of creating and trading tokens via bonding curve, but the meme coin market is known for its unpredictability. According to CoinMarketCap, as of December 23, 2025, the price of $PUMP is around $0.0018, with a market capitalization of $633 million and a circulating supply of 587.7 billion tokens. The token reached its all-time high of $0.008999 on September 13, 2025, but has since lost over 80% of its value, dropping below the ICO price of $0.004. Over the past week, $PUMP has fallen by 21.3%, and in the last 24 hours - by 11.26%, with a trading volume of $77.93 million.

This incident is not isolated. Previously, large whales such as "PUMP Top Fund 1" and "PUMP Top Fund 2" sold over $160 million in $PUMP on exchanges after the ICO, leading to a drop below the initial price. Similarly, Machi Big Brother incurred unrealized losses of $4 million due to a leveraged position. The Pump.fun team attempted to stabilize the situation through a $62 million buyback, but it did not halt the overall decline. Research from Crypto.news showed that out of 29.6 million wallets on Pump.fun, only 0.76% earned $1000 or more, while 59.9% suffered losses, with 89% of them realizing losses upon sale.

Despite this, the Pump.fun platform continues to dominate: in 2025, it accounted for 80% of token launches on Solana, generating significant revenues. Whales are accumulating tokens - for example, top holders added 20 billion $PUMP in November, but the team is selling assets worth $436.5 million, which is putting pressure on the price. Analysts predict a possible recovery if speculative capital returns to altcoins, but risks remain high due to legal challenges and regulatory restrictions (for example, bans for users from the US and UK during the ICO).

This case underscores the dangers of investing in meme coins: quick profits are often replaced by significant losses. Investors are advised to monitor on-chain data and market trends before entering such assets.