Pump.fun Retakes Lead Over Tron's SunPump as Justin Sun Pushes 'Celebrity Season'

Solana-based meme coin factory Pump.fun has retaken a key statistical lead over SunPump, nearly two weeks after the Tron token launchpad flipped Pump.fun in daily created coins. 

On August 21, SunPump created 1,658 more tokens than Pump.fun over a 24 hour period. But this token creation dominance was short-lived. On Wednesday, according to Dune data, SunPump created just 1,258 tokens, falling 83% from 7,531 tokens created just two weeks prior.

This decline can also be seen in the Tron launchpad’s daily active swappers falling from 29,099 on Aug 21 to 6,816 as of Wednesday—a 76.5% decrease.

It's less a case of Pump.fun rocketing ahead of SunPump in terms of tokens created, however, and more a case of SunPump's metrics slipping faster than those of the Solana meme coin factory.

During the peak of SunPump’s popularity, Pump.fun launched 6,941 tokens and over the past 24 hours, as its Tron competitor has fallen, the Solana launchpad created just 5,824 tokens.

With SunPump slipping to statistical lows not seen since the first week of the protocol, Tron founder Justin Sun posted a tweet claiming that “celebrity season” is coming to the network. 

Earlier this year, a slew of celebrity meme coins were launched on Solana’s Pump.fun—a number of which were launched by crypto promoter Sahil Arora, including tokens for Caitlyn Jenner, R&B singer Jason Derulo, rapper Lil Pump, and many more.

When Arora was asked if he is working with Sun for Tron's upcoming “celebrity season,” he sent multiple examples of times he claims to have worked with the network in the past, adding “dig deeper, it’s all there.”

The crypto promoter claimed to have been responsible for getting actress Lindsay Lohan, R&B singer NeYo, and internet star Jake Paul to promote Tron on social media in 2021.

Arora also claimed that his team had contacted tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, who subsequently outed the scheme in a YouTube video. Both Brownlee and later the SEC claimed that the celebrities did not disclose the posts were paid promotions.

Tron did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

“In an attempt to attract more volume and attention, it is easier for founders to flock towards celebrities,” Arora told Decrypt, after being told these details would be published. He added that, “You either glorify or vilify celebrities but there is absolutely no denial that they can appeal to a much larger instant audience and clock in numbers the fastest. In the end, it’s all just manipulation and a game of who gets in and out first.”