Pump Fun paid nearly $700K to promoters of low-cap tokens, data shows

Approximately 80% of the top 50 earners from Pump Fun's callout rewards shared tokens with an average market cap below $100,000, according to figures compiled by crypto researcher Dethective.

Traders on the platform receive daily payments based on the trading volume their publicly posted token recommendations generate from other users.

Dethective's analysis of the top 50 callout reward recipients found they collectively collected close to $700,000.

Few callers promote tokens above $100K market cap

Just two callers achieved an average median market cap above $1 million, while eight recorded an average median between $100,000 and $1 million.

Pumpfun distributed ~700k in callout rewards to 50 accounts.

Did they deserved it?

A list with the amount of calls and the median token Marketcap

— dethective (@dethective)

Eighty percent of those who received rewards promoted tokens whose average market cap was under $100,000. A dozen callers averaged a market cap below $10,000.

Martin Shkreli earns $11K from callout rewards

Martin Shkreli recently began using Pump Fun, and his closely associated memecoins dropped 94% within 24 hours.

Nevertheless, Shkreli has accumulated almost $11,000 through callout rewards. He has posted 11 callouts with an average market cap rate of $220,000.

User posts 2,417 calls, earns $6.8K

The top earner in the callout rewards program, a user named "Slingoor," collected $47,500 after sharing 215 callouts. That user's average market cap rate stood at roughly $149,000.

By contrast, the lowest earner among the top 50 made $6,100 from 624 callouts, with an average market cap rate above $13,000.

Another top-50 user posted 2,417 calls and netted $6,800, with an average market cap rate of $3,600.

Pump Fun incentivized volume over quality

Observers have pointed out that most recipients of these rewards are key opinion leaders already brought onto the platform.

Users also voiced complaints that the system unfairly rewarded the quantity of callouts rather than their effectiveness.

In response, Pump Fun's Chief Operating Officer Alon Cohen stated the firm has "significantly reduced the weighting of the number of callouts that a user produces within the callout rewards calculation."

The Pump Fun token has risen 133% over the past month but remains 46% below its all-time high from September.