Pump.fun laid off staff before PUMP tokens vested

An investigative report from Sandmark said Pump.fun, the Solana-based memecoin launchpad, dismissed more than 40 employees across two rounds of layoffs timed shortly before their PUMP token grants were due to vest. The first wave came in April, with a second round in mid-July; affected staff had agreed to their token terms in June 2025, under which a quarter of their allocation was due to vest around June 2026. At least one former employee said the forfeited allocation would have been worth seven figures, and severance was calculated at one week's pay per month worked. Co-founder Noah Tweedale had told staff in March that the company had expanded too quickly to keep operating at its earlier pace. Pump.fun has not publicly responded to the report.

Timing layoffs to land just before a token grant vests raises the question of whether the vesting schedule was ever meant to align incentives, or simply to defer compensation until it could be avoided.