Pump.fun layoffs dispute deepens as UK holding company misses filing deadline
Sacked staff say they lost PUMP token payouts before vesting, as Pump.fun's UK entity sits on the FCA warning list with overdue accounts.
Pump.fun, the Solana-based memecoin launchpad, is facing allegations that it dismissed more than 40 staff shortly before their token allocations were due to vest, reopening scrutiny of a UK holding company that already sits on the Financial Conduct Authority’s warning list and has failed to file accounts on time with Companies House.
According to a report by crypto outlet Sandmark, based on internal documents, emails and recordings, employees who signed PUMP token grant agreements in mid-June 2025 were due to have a quarter of their allocation unlock in June 2026. Staff terminated in a first wave in late March and early April, and reportedly again in mid-July, missed that window and lost their tokens entirely. Sandmark said at least one former employee forfeited an allocation now worth over $1m at current prices, even after PUMP’s steep decline from its 2025 peak.
Founders cite rapid growth, staff receive standard severance
Co-founder Noah Tweedale reportedly told employees the company had “grown too quickly” and needed to stay “fast and rough”, according to the meeting recording obtained by Sandmark. Affected staff were compensated with one week of severance for every month worked, but say they were not told their unvested tokens would be forfeited as a result of losing employment before the June 2026 unlock date.
Neither Tweedale nor co-founder Alon Cohen responded to Sandmark’s inquiries, and Pump.fun has issued no public response to the allegations. A second wave of layoffs in mid-July was alleged in posts from an anonymous X account claiming to represent affected staff, but Sandmark said it could not independently verify the claim or the precise headcount involved, which both outlets put at “over 40” across the two rounds.
PUMP traded at roughly $0.002 as the reports circulated, up between roughly 6% and 8% on the day depending on the source, but still between 69% and 79% below its 2025 peak of about $0.0089 — figures vary across reporting. On 12 July, a separate one-year lockup from the token’s initial coin offering expired, releasing 82.5bn tokens, of which 50bn went to the team and 32.5bn to early investors, according to Tokenomist data cited by TokenPost. The team’s unlocked allocation was valued at roughly $102m at current prices.
UK entity faces overdue filings and FCA warning
Pump.fun operates under the UK-incorporated Baton Corporation Ltd, which has blocked UK users since December 2024 after the FCA warned the firm it may be “carrying on activities which require authorisation.” The company remains on the regulator’s warning list. Baton’s accounts for the period to 30 September 2025 were due by 30 June and are now delinquent, exposing the firm to a potential fine of up to £375, according to Sandmark’s reporting.
Baton, Tweedale and Cohen are separately named in a securities class-action lawsuit filed in New York, and the platform faces other UK-linked claims, including allegations of a “rigged” offering and disputed maximal extractable value practices. In December 2025, Wood Green Crown Court sentenced former Pump.fun employee Jarett Dunn to six years in prison after he transferred around $2m from a company wallet to thousands of addresses in 2024, an incident he described as having “killed” the memecoin.
Revenue remains strong despite governance questions
The controversy sits alongside continued commercial strength. DefiLlama data cited by TokenPost put Pump.fun’s revenue at $19.1m over the 30 days to 22 July, with daily revenue of roughly $764,800 on that date, up 22.6% month-on-month, and cumulative revenue since March 2024 above $1.07bn. Sandmark, citing Dune analytics, put lifetime revenue at approximately $1.3bn with the platform still earning around $1m a day. In April, Pump.fun burned around $370m of repurchased PUMP tokens, eliminating roughly 36% of circulating supply, a move Cohen defended at the time as directing funds toward the project’s long-term objectives.
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