Solana memecoin launchpad Pump.fun laid off employees two months before their tokens were due to vest, according to documents and recordings obtained by Sandmark. At least one former employee missed out on an allocation of PUMP worth seven figures at current prices, even with the token down around 79% from its 2025 high of $0.0089, per TradingView.
Pump.fun Laid Off Employees Two Months Before Token Vesting
31 July 2026 - 09:00 UTC
By Ryan S. Gladwin & Sandmark staff
Pump.fun became one of the largest revenue generators in crypto after its rise in late 2024, letting anyone create a memecoin for free in seconds. More than 20.8mn Solana tokens have been created on the platform, which has generated about $1.3bn in lifetime revenue, according to Dune data. The company grew from three employees to close to 100 earlier this year.
'Grew too quickly'
A 'termination of services' email obtained by Sandmark shows Lloyd McCarthy, Pump.fun's head of talent, calling employees into a group meeting in late March. In an audio and video recording of that meeting, co-founder Noah Tweedale said the reason for the layoffs was that the company "grew too quickly," which prevented Pump.fun from moving "fast and rough".
Affected employees had their agreements terminated in early April, according to the email and recording, receiving a severance package of one week's salary for every month worked at the company. For many, the timing was the sting: just two months later they were due to start receiving PUMP tokens.
Employees had signed a token grant agreement in mid-June 2025, according to a document viewed by Sandmark, under which a quarter of their allocation would unlock one year later. For at least one former employee, dismissal in April meant missing out on seven figures worth of PUMP at today's valuation.
Tweedale and co-founder Alon Cohen did not respond to Sandmark's requests for comment.
A second wave
Former employees claim a second round of layoffs took place in mid-July. On Thursday, an X account called ExPumpEmployee began posting alleged termination emails and claimed its owner was laid off one day before their scheduled token vesting. Former employees say more than 40 people in total have been let go by Pump.fun over the past two months. Sandmark could not independently verify these claims.
Pump.fun operates under the legal name Baton Corporation Ltd in the UK, despite blocking UK users since December 2024 after the Financial Conduct Authority warned the platform may be providing financial services without authorization. It remains on the regulator's warnings list.
The company's UK base came to light in 2024, when then-employee Jarett Dunn drained around $2mn from a company wallet and sent the funds to thousands of random addresses, saying he wanted to "kill" the platform, as Decrypt reported at the time. Pump.fun was then being developed out of a WeWork in London. Dunn was sentenced to six years in prison by Wood Green Crown Court in December 2025 and the case has since become part of the legal and reputational overhang trailing the platform.
Overdue accounts
Baton's last filed accounts cover the year to 31 Mar 2024, when the company recorded three employees, according to Companies House. Its next accounts, for the period to 30 Sept 2025, were due by 30 Jun and are now overdue.
Accounts filed between one and three months late incur a £375 penalty; up to one month late, the penalty is £150. Pump.fun's daily revenue is still running at around $1mn, according to Dune.
