Pump.fun burns 36% of $PUMP, users say lost airdrops

Pump.fun announced on April 28, 2026, that it had permanently burned bought-back $PUMP tokens equal to roughly 36% of the circulating supply, a figure the platform described as about $370 million. The team also launched a programmatic buyback-and-burn that will allocate 50% of revenue for the next year to support development, infrastructure and expansion.

On-chain records show the platform used the Squads Program to execute treasury-controlled burn transactions. Solscan lists two large burns: one for 123.1 billion $PUMP tokens, valued at about $234.9 million, and a second for 4.15 billion tokens, worth about $7.9 million. Both transactions included burn instructions that remove tokens from circulation and finalized within minutes of each other.

Traders and community members responded with anger and frustration, arguing the destroyed tokens had been accumulated as buybacks that they expected would be redistributed as community incentives such as airdrops and awards. Those users contend the tokens represented deferred value for the community and that permanent burns eliminated any possibility of future redistribution.

Pump.fun posted that the decision was intended to end confusion around earlier buyback mechanics and to rebuild confidence after criticism over transparency and how buyback funds were used. The platform described earlier attempts to allocate 100% of revenue to buybacks as having created misunderstandings about how buyback funds would be handled, prompting the switch to a structured plan that combines burns with retained funds for growth.

The burns were executed directly from Pump.fun’s treasury rather than moved to a separate wallet. The burn instructions used in the transactions permanently remove tokens from circulation; once processed through the burn mechanism the tokens cannot be recovered or returned to circulation.

Community reaction split along lines of expectations and priorities. Some participants criticized the action as a breach of the expectations that had underpinned participation and speculation on the platform. Others welcomed the clearer tokenomic framework and the predictable allocation of future revenue to buybacks and operations.

In a public post, Pump.fun wrote: “We have burned ALL bought back $PUMP tokens, around $370M worth of purchases (~36% of circulating supply). On top of that, we have initiated a programmatic buyback and burn scheme at 50% of revenue for the next year to…” The platform said the restructured approach aims to balance token burns with retained funds for expansion.

Observers note that how the community interprets the trade-off between reduced circulating supply and the loss of potential immediate rewards will influence whether the change affects confidence in the project. The announced programmatic buyback-and-burn will continue for the next year under the terms described by Pump.fun.