Pump Fun and Kimchi partnership collapses after failed token launch

Crypto trader and platform partnership unravels

A promotional collaboration between prominent crypto trader Kimchi and memecoin platform Pump Fun has ended in confusion after a newly launched token saw its value crash within minutes. The incident has sparked widespread speculation among users that Kimchi’s social media account may have been hacked, though some observers believe the launch failure was due to intentional actions or poor management.

The 'Pill Your Friends' campaign and failed launch

Pump Fun and Kimchi, whose real name is Clayton Kim, were working together to promote the platform's “Pill Your Friends” campaign. Pump Fun co-founder Alon Cohen described Kim as “the first ever example of a trader becoming a celebrity.” However, things turned sour on October 22 when Kimchi’s X account shared a QR code for a new token called “Project Kimchi.”

The token’s market capitalization briefly reached $14 million before plummeting to roughly $600,000 within minutes. It currently sits at just $183,000. During this time, Cohen reshared the post and quickly unshared it. Subsequently, Kimchi’s X account began deleting Pump Fun-related posts and removed the platform from his bio.

Speculation over the cause of the crash

Many users suspected that Kimchi was hacked, leading to the accidental launch of a fraudulent token. However, other observers, including crypto trader Fabiano, highlighted that Cohen did not issue any hack warnings after unsharing the post. Fabiano suggested that if it were a hack, the resharing would have required minute-by-minute planning, and that Kimchi deleting partnership posts makes little sense if they had a legitimate deal. Some users believe the disastrous launch was, at best, a bad case of mismanagement.

Unverified financial claims and promotional issues

Pump Fun’s promotional materials reiterated an unverified claim that Kimchi had made over $40 million trading the TRUMP token. Crypto analyst Bubblemaps reports that Kimchi’s publicly verifiable profits are closer to $6 million. Bubblemaps noted that while there is a possibility of unrevealed addresses, Kimchi likely would have revealed them by now. Additionally, Pump Fun’s initial post promoting the campaign was community-noted to point out that Kimchi’s linked wallets are associated with sniping tokens, a practice where users buy tokens immediately after they are created to get the best price.

Sources

• Protos

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