Former Pump.fun Employees Say Layoffs Stripped Them of Promised PUMP Tokens

Former employees of memecoin launchpad Pump.fun say the company promised the team an allocation of PUMP tokens, but after a wave of layoffs, terminated staff lost their rights to the still-unvested assets. According to one former employee, that cost him tokens worth more than $1 million at current prices.

• Pump.fun has laid off more than 40 people over the past two months
• Some of the layoffs, according to former employees, happened shortly before the token unlock
• Instead of distributing the promised allocation, the company reportedly paid severance equal to one week's salary per month worked
• One laid-off employee estimates his personal token loss at more than $1 million at current prices

Pump.fun had a one-year token cliff for its team and early investors following its $1.32 billion ICO in the summer of 2025, with the unlock only beginning in July 2026. This isn't the first time crypto industry layoffs have lined up with financially sensitive dates for staff: a similar story, involving ordinary salary rather than tokens, played out at exchange Luno, which cut a fifth of its staff. More context on the scale of Pump.fun's token unlock is available via TechTimes. Pump.fun had not issued an official response to the former employees' claims as of publication.

Nothing here should be taken as financial advice — just information to consider.