Pump Fun paid $700k to callers who mostly promoted tiny tokens

Top callers shared links to small, risky tokens

Pump Fun distributed about $700,000 in rewards to its top 50 users for sharing token callouts. However, new research shows that most of these users promoted very small projects.

Data from crypto analyst Dethective found that the average market cap of tokens shared by 80% of these top earners was below $100,000. A market cap is the total value of a cryptocurrency based on its price and supply.

Only two users had an average median market cap rate over $1 million. Eight users fell between $100,000 and $1 million. Meanwhile, 12 callers promoted tokens with an average market cap of less than $10,000.

Quantity over quality complaints

Users have criticized the platform for rewarding the sheer number of posts rather than their quality. Many of the top earners are already key opinion leaders onboarded by Pump Fun.

In response, Pump Fun’s Chief Operating Officer Alon Cohen stated that the firm has “significantly reduced the weighting of the number of callouts” in its reward calculation. This suggests the platform is adjusting how it pays users to prioritize quality over volume.

Notable earners and outliers

The highest earner was a user named “Slingoor,” who made $47,500 from 215 callouts. Their average market cap rate was nearly $149,000.

Controversial figure Martin Shkreli also joined Pump Fun this week. Despite his closely tied memecoins dropping 94% in 24 hours, he earned almost $11,000 in rewards. He shared 11 callouts with an average market cap rate of $220,000.

One top 50 earner shared a massive 2,417 calls but only made $6,800. Their average market cap rate was just $3,600, highlighting the platform's focus on volume.

Why this matters for crypto traders

This data raises questions about the effectiveness of social callouts on Pump Fun. If most rewarded tokens have very low market caps, traders following these calls may be taking on significant risk for little potential gain.

The platform’s recent changes to reduce the weight of callout quantity could signal a shift toward more meaningful promotions, but the current reward structure clearly incentivized high-volume posting of small-cap assets.

Token performance context

Over the last month, Pump Fun’s own token has increased by 133%. However, it remains down 46% from its all-time high set last September.

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