Pumpfun $2.5M Squads Competition — Post-Kimchi Pivot
Pumpfun announced a $2.5M competition for the top 3 trading squads by PNL over 2 weeks, sign-up by October 26. The announcement comes days after controversy surrounding the Kimchi partnership, which multiple traders acknowledged the platform is trying to move past.
What we know
Several accounts on X highlight the competition structure: $1.5M for 1st, $750k for 2nd, $250k for 3rd, based on PNL + unrealised PNL after 2 weeks. An account on X is recruiting $10K+ $AI holders to build the largest squad, betting $AI outperforms. Another account on X calls it 'pretty sick' but raises concerns about manipulation and rule clarity. Another account on X is most pointed: 'Let's pretend the Kimchi stuff never happened eh?' referring to the prior week's controversy where another account on X documented Pumpfun introducing Kimchi as a trader who made $40M on $TRUMP, a claim Bubblemaps could not verify.
How the story developed
Pumpfun announced a $2.5M competition for the top 3 trading squads by PNL over 2 weeks, sign-up by October 26. The announcement comes days after controversy surrounding the Kimchi partnership, which multiple traders acknowledged the platform is trying to move past.
Crypto trader Kimchi's memecoin collapsed 98% after the PumpFun co-founder removed his repost. Kimchi then split from PumpFun just 2 days after signing, coinciding with a 16% drop in PumpFun revenue and 11% fall in active addresses.
The Kimchi influencer partnership with PumpFun has sparked widespread backlash: insider trading allegations against KOL Rasmr, accusations that Kimchi rugged a coin, a breakdown of PumpFun's massive KOL payment structure, and a lawsuit filed against PumpFun's parent company Baton Corporation.
Kimchi signs with PumpFun and drops his first YouTube video, with his $KIMCHI token hitting $44M market cap — described across CT as the first example of a crypto trader becoming a mainstream celebrity.
Allegations emerged that Kimchi and Pumpfun extracted $1M+ via a coordinated coin launch seconds after Pumpfun's rebrand, with one trader separately turning $848 into $282K on the same token in 2 hours.
By the Global Eye 24 desk, with AI assistance. Updated as the story develops. Spot an error? Write to corrections@globaleye24.com.