Key Insights:
- Over $160 million in PUMP tokens were moved to exchanges by two early private sale wallets immediately after the ICO.
- PUMP has dropped over 46% from its all-time high, and is now trading below its ICO price.
- Nearly 90% of ICO participants have sold or moved their PUMP tokens.
Just days after Pump.fun raised nearly $500 million in its historical 12-minute ICO, the buzz has quickly faded. Early backers of the $PUMP token have sent more than $160 million worth of tokens to centralized exchanges, which shows a mass selloff that has shaken confidence in the memecoin’s future.
Who Sold PUMP Tokens and Why?
According to blockchain data, two wallets known as “PUMP Top Fund 1” and “PUMP Top Fund 2” were responsible for much of the selling. These wallets were part of the private sale that came before the ICO and had massive stakes in the token.
The wallet labelled Top Fund 1 purchased 25 billion PUMP tokens for $100 million in USDC. Over the last week, this wallet deposited 17 billion tokens, worth around $90 million to various exchanges. As of writing, it still holds $29.5 million worth of tokens.
The $PUMP price has dropped below its private/public sale price of $0.004.
“PUMP Top Fund 1” spent 100M $USDC to buy 25B $PUMP at $0.004 in the private sale.
So far, he has deposited 17B $PUMP($89.5M) to exchanges via #FalconX and still hold 8B $PUMP($29.58M).“PUMP Top Fund… pic.twitter.com/xibWUaCOxz
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 22, 2025
Top Fund 2 on the other hand, bought 12.5 billion tokens for $50 million, and has already offloaded all of them. This move netted this wallet’s owner over $71 million in returns.
This kind of aggressive selling from early insiders is often a red flag for any project. It historically points towards a lack of long-term commitment to the project, and it creates downward price pressure that affects everyday investors.
The PUMP Price Crash Below ICO Levels
Soon after the token’s launch, PUMP seemed promising. However, that optimism faded fast. According to CoinGecko, PUMP dropped to $0.003642, which represented a 46.5% decline from its all-time high of $0.006812. That’s also 7% lower than its ICO price of $0.004.
In just a few days since its public release on July 15, PUMP has already lost 32% of its value.
To make things worse, 60% of presale participants have already moved or sold their tokens, with only 12% of holders still retaining their PUMP balance. Just 3% are adding to their holdings, which indicates that buyer confidence is wearing off fast.
Why Did This Happen?
A major factor in PUMP’s decline is its high unlock percentage. This means that a large number of tokens were made available to early investors, immediately after launch. According to analysts at BitMEX, this leads to strong volatility and downward pressure, especially in the derivatives markets.
It’s been almost 1 week since the @pumpdotfun ICO
From 10,145 participants who contributed $448.5M:
59.6% sold or transferred
Our quant reveals traders are still BULLISH on $PUMP. Read on
— BitMEX (@BitMEX) July 17, 2025
59.6% sold or transferred 
https://t.co/mIH0MN8Tby When a token launches with most of its supply unlocked, there’s little to prevent insiders from taking quick profits. This tends to undermine trust, and weakens the token’s long-term price support.
As BitMEX explained, PUMP’s initial price increase defied expectations, considering its large float. However, once early backers started cashing out, it became clear that the gains wouldn’t last.
The Memecoin Market Under Strain
The PUMP crash isn’t happening in isolation. It comes at a time when the memecoin market is showing signs of slowing down after months of explosive growth.
On July 21, the memecoin market cap hit a record $87 billion, which is a 58% increase from the $55 billion seen just three weeks earlier. However, that high was short-lived. By July 23, the market cap had already dropped to $82 billion.
While that still stands as massive growth, the pullback indicates that investor sentiment is starting to shift across the board.
The post Pump.fun Selloff: $160M Moved to Exchanges as PUMP Crashes Below ICO Price appeared first on Live Bitcoin News.