Pump.fun's Status as the Home of Memecoins Is Taking a Hit Following a Hack

Solana's status as the home of memecoins is taking a hit. The blockchain was used to launch arguable pump-and-dump tokens like TRUMP and MELANIA

Solana’s status as the home of memecoins is taking a hit. The blockchain was used to launch arguable pump-and-dump tokens like TRUMP and MELANIA, as well as not-so-arguable pump-and-dump project LIBRA.

The dent in Solana’s image as a reputable ecosystem – despite offering a lot more than memecoin minting – has smashed the SOL token’s price over the past month.

And now, the reputation of speculative memecoins, and Solana, isn’t getting any better following the hack of Pump.fun’s Twitter / X account.

Related: Crypto Community Reacts to the Industry’s Biggest Ever Exchange Hack

Pump.fun Socials Used to Promote Supposed ‘Governance' Token

Pump.fun is one of Solana’s biggest ecosystem platforms, ranking third in trading volume behind DEXs Jupiter and Raydium.

The primary purpose of Pump.fun is for minting, promoting and selling memecoins, with the dApp leveraging Solana’s fast and low-fee blockchain.

However, as is the nature of memecoins, Pump.fun has been used as a vessel to commit pump and dump schemes…which its name kind of suggests.

But things were taken to a new level overnight when the official Pump.fun Twitter / X account was compromised. Upon gaining access, the attacker quickly shot a series of posts promoting a supposed ‘official governance token’ for the Pump.fun platform.

Given Pump.fun’s prominence among the Solana ecosystem, such a token launch would receive significant attention.

PUMPFUN IS HACKED pic.twitter.com.

The catch? The token was fake.

Pump.fun Not to Blame for Account Hack, ZachXBT Claims

The compromise was quickly recognised by renowned internet sleuth ZachXBT, who cautioned investors to avoid the ‘PUMP’ token at all costs.

Pump.fun were quickly on the case themselves, posting in their telegram channel confirming their Twitter / X account had been compromised.

After a few hours, the official admins of the Pump.fun account claimed access, and things have to normal. According to both ZachXBT and an early investigation from the memecoin trading platform, very little could’ve been done to prevent the hack.

In fact, ZachXBT goes as far to claim that the leak may come from X / Twitter’s side.

We've regained access to this account. Based on current information, the extent of the compromise was limited to this X account.

TL:DR: the security protocols taken by the team to secure the X account were focused on, relied on industry best-practices, and focused on minimizing the impact of such an eventuality.

— Pump.fun (@pumpfun) August 24, 2023

However, given the difficult circumstances enshrouding the crypto market this week, the account hack was the last thing the memecoin industry needed.