Popular Solana memecoin launchpad Pump.fun implements UK geoblocking following regulatory scrutiny from the Financial Conduct Authority over unauthorized financial services.
Pump.fun, a leading memecoin launchpad on the Solana SOL $134.2 24h volatility: 0.3% Market cap: $69.27 B Vol. 24h: $2.50 B network, has restricted its access in the United Kingdom through geoblocking. The highly successful memecoin launchpad, which has graduated more than 68k tokens, has faced regulatory scrutiny in the United Kingdom for providing unregistered services.
According to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Pump.fun has been promoting and providing financial services without the necessary regulatory approvals. As a result, the FCA cautioned traders about the possibility of getting scammed on the Pump.fun.
The FCA warned investors accessing Pump.fun that they are not eligible for any protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) nor the Financial Ombudsman Service.
“You should only deal with financial firms that are authorized by us. If a financial firm is authorized by us, it gives you greater protection if things go wrong,” the FCA noted.
Meanwhile, Pump.fun has been offering UK customers direct access to their funds in order to facilitate withdrawals.
Impact of Pump.fun on Solana’s Memecoin Space
The Solana memecoin ecosystem has reached a market capitalization exceeding $21 billion, with over $7 billion in daily average trading volume. Pump.fun has been instrumental in this significant growth. Several tokens launched on the Pump.fun platform have achieved billion-dollar valuations.
Recently, Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) has rallied to a billion-dollar memecoin, with over 72k on-chain holders after graduating from Pump.fun. Other top-tier memecoins that have graduated from Pump.fun include Goatseus Maximus GOAT $0.0460 24h volatility: 2.6% Market cap: $45.98 M Vol. 24h: $6.47 M , Moo Deng MOODENG $0.0262 24h volatility: 3.9% Market cap: $25.98 M Vol. 24h: $22.51 M , Just a Chill Guy [NC], and Frog (FROG), among many others.
As a result, Pump.fun core developers have earned over 1.6 million SOL, worth more than $288 million. According to on-chain data, the Pump.fun core developers have been actively depositing their SOL tokens to centralized exchanges for selling.
However, since mid-November, Pump.fun has experienced a notable decline in revenue collection following the disabling of the livestream feature. The livestream feature on the Pump.fun platform attracted negative attention from the cryptocurrency industry after several scams, rug pulls, and harmful behaviors were observed.
Bigger Picture
The significant success of Pump.fun on the Solana blockchain is a clear indication that more retail investors are heavily inclined to the memecoin industry. As of this writing, the memecoin industry has grown to a total valuation of more than $141 billion and a daily average traded volume of about $27 billion.
Led by Elon Musk-backed dog-themed Dogecoin DOGE $0.16 24h volatility: 1.1% Market cap: $23.57 B Vol. 24h: $465.97 M , the memecoin industry is expected to outshine the entire altcoin market due to the rising demand from both whale and retail investors. However, memecoin investors should pay attention to potential scams and rug pulls to avoid losing capital.
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