Pump.fun team moves another $75M to Kraken as cash-out claims intensify

A new set of stablecoin transfers has pushed Pump.fun back into the spotlight as questions over its recent activity resurface.

Summary

• Pump.fun sent another $75M USDC to Kraken, bringing total transfers since Nov. 15 to $480M.
• The team denies cashing out, saying the movements are part of treasury management using USDC raised from its ICO.
• PUMP trades at $0.00294, down 38% over the month, with analysts expecting further weakness.

Pump.fun moved another $75 million in USDC to Kraken on Nov. 27, a shift that has revived questions about the project’s recent stablecoin activity. 

According to an analysis shared by EmberCN, the team has now deposited roughly $480 million to the exchange over the past 12 days, all sourced from its initial coin offering proceeds.

Fresh transfers spark speculations

The latest transaction looked similar to another flow that drew attention earlier this week. Shortly after the $75 million deposit hit Kraken, about $69.26 million USDC moved from the exchange to Circle, the issuer of USDC. 

That sequence mirrored a pattern reported by crypto.news on Nov. 24, when $405 million reached Kraken and roughly $466 million left for Circle soon after. Analysts say this type of movement often aligns with USDC redemptions, which is why observers immediately flagged it.

Pump.fun’s (PUMP) co-founder Sapijiju previously denied cash-out allegations.  He said the transfers were part of routine treasury management and not an attempt to withdraw funds. He stressed that the company has never worked directly with Circle and said none of the flows represented a cash-out. 

Instead, he noted that the USDC raised from the ICO was being redistributed across wallets to support operations and future developments.

Controversy around token allocations

The latest dispute is part of a string of controversies surrounding Pump.fun, which has already faced criticism over its token structure. Its private round allocated 18% of PUMP’s one-trillion supply to investors at $0.004, raising an estimated $720 million. 

Analysts later pointed out that insiders and early buyers held more than half of the supply when trading went live, something community members said distorted market conditions at launch.

The project’s revenue model added another layer, especially due to the low success rate of tokens created on the platform. Pump.fun has made over $910 million in revenue since its launch, according to Dune Analytics data, despite a recent slowdown.

Concerns about side wallet sales, insider holdings, and the ongoing debate over whether buyback expectations are being undermined by treasury flows appear to be some of the causes of the market slowdown.

Legal pressure and market reaction

Pump.fun is also facing class-action lawsuits in New York, alleging unregistered token sales and misleading statements regarding potential profits. This increased scrutiny has weighed on market sentiment, with PUMP trading at $0.00294 at press time, down 38% for the month.

Coincodex analysts predict further weakness through December due to high volatility and an Extreme Fear score of 15 on the Fear & Greed Index.