Reports emerged that Pump.fun had laid off employees two months before their PUMP token allocations were due to vest, with at least one former employee missing out on seven figures worth of tokens.
Co-founder Noah Tweedale attributed the layoffs to the company growing “too quickly,” which prevented Pump.fun from moving “fast and rough.” The company grew from three employees to nearly 100 earlier this year.
The vesting details
Employees had signed token grant agreements in June 2025, under which a quarter of their allocation would unlock one year later. The terminations in April meant those employees missed the June vesting date.
For at least one former employee, the lost allocation was worth seven figures at current prices, even with PUMP down roughly 79 percent from its 2025 high of $0.0089. Severance was one week’s salary for every month worked, significantly less than the token value lost.
A pattern of layoffs and overdue accounts
Former employees claim a second round of layoffs took place in mid-July, with more than 40 people let go over two months. One X account alleged its owner was laid off one day before their scheduled token vesting.
There’s also a recently created X account called “ex pump employee” (@expumpemployee) with the label “voice of 40+ ex pump employees who were fired before vesting tokens and treated like cattle,” to support one another, share their complaints, and post information about the situation.
Pump.fun operates under the legal name Baton Corporation Ltd in the UK, despite blocking UK users since December 2024 after a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warning. The company’s last filed accounts cover March 2024, when it had three employees, and its next accounts are now overdue.
Recent similar situations: A growing trend
Pump.fun’s move echoes a pattern across the crypto industry. In June, Movement Labs fired its CEO and co-founder, Rushi Manche, just as its MOVE token entered a critical unlocking period. Around that same time, Storj Labs went bankrupt, leaving everyone holding their tokens wondering if they’d ever see their money again. Then, in July, BitMEX and BitMart both called it quits, sending BitMart’s BMX token into a total tailspin, dropping 58 percent almost instantly.
The common thread: employees, token holders, and communities bearing the cost of corporate restructurings, often timed suspiciously close to vesting or unlocking dates.
Look at Pump.fun: laying people off in April when their tokens were set to vest in June? That timing is pretty sketchy. It makes you wonder if it was really about “performance” or just a cold move to claw back millions in tokens from the team.
For former staff, the loss isn’t just theoretical: seven-figure allocations disappeared overnight. For the industry, it’s another reminder that token compensation is only as valuable as the vesting schedule that protects it.
