“The launch of Pump Fun is directly correlated to the destruction of the altcoin market against $BTC.”
This was what crypto analyst Miles Deutscher stressed after seeing “no major ‘alt season’ across majors” since the crypto market started to ascend in the latter half of 2024.
- #CryptoPH thought leader and GCash executive Luis Buenaventura, on the other hand, has also voiced his opinion on the matter.
What’s the significance? A healthy discussion provides crypto investors with better guidance on their trading journey.
Definition of terms
- Altcoins: These are all the cryptocurrencies, except $BTC.
- Meme Coins: These are cryptocurrencies created from internet jokes and memes. These tokens have no utilities, and their prices depend on community hype.
- Major Tokens: These are altcoins that function as utility tokens, gas tokens, and ecosystem tokens of different projects and major blockchains such as Ethereum ($ETH), Solana ($SOL), and Binance ($BNB).
- Pump Fun: A token launchpad built on top of the Solana Network, where users can create, trade, and distribute their own crypto, specifically meme coins.
The Big Picture: In an interview with the writer, Buenaventura said that the current bull run is different from past bull runs because, normally, $BTC rallies first in terms of price, followed by $ETH, then the other altcoins. (Read more: “Are We All Going to Be Crypto Rich in 2025?” by Luis Buenaventura)
- Now, $BTC and all the altcoins are rallying at the same time.
The same observation was noted by Deutscher.
- According to the crypto analyst, this shift was caused by the existence of meme coins—because the speculative capital that would have once been poured into the top 200 assets instead jumped the gun and flooded into on-chain low caps.
“The early birds & insiders got insanely rich from this. And truthfully, there was a lot of money to be made (and still is – it isn’t going away). But most retail (who entered late) lost, as is the case in most altcoin cycles.”
Miles Deutscher, Crypto Analyst
Deutscher also explained that what is happening today is due to the flow of funds from “illiquid on-chain memes,” which quickly retraced by negative 7% to 80%.
- This is vastly different from what happened in 2022, where traders’ losses were mostly limited to CEX altcoins with solid liquidity, he expounded.
“Thus, it became a wealth destruction event much greater than the early 2022 bear (LUNA aside), even though BTC (and some majors) are still in a macro bull trend. Understanding this, it’s clear to see why sentiment is so poor.”
Miles Deutscher, Crypto Analyst
But what’s with Pump Fun?
The crypto analyst highlighted that the token launchpad “fundamentally changed the game.”
For Deutscher, because Pump Fun allows anyone to create and distribute meme coins, it has made the crypto industry “the biggest casino on the planet.”
However, he still credited the platform as a “powerful onboarding tool.”
“Btw, I don’t ‘blame’ Pump Fun, as its launch is in direct response to the brash crypto regulation which has made it impossible to fair-launch projects. The SEC essentially forced the industry to find ways to make the industry ‘fairer,’ as opposed to the VC/insider-fuelled bull run of 2021.”
Buenaventura responded to this analysis, showing pessimism about meme coins’ lasting effect on the crypto market cycle.
“This perspective shows an interesting consequence of Pump Ffun’s democratization of meme coin creation, but I’m less certain that it’ll just keep going on this way forever.”
Luis Buenaventura, #CryptoPH Thought Leader
The GCash Executive mentioned other trends, such as initial coin offerings (ICOs) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), that existed in past cycles in 2017 and 2021, respectively.
Neither sustained outside of their respective cycles, Buenaventura explained.
These once-popular initiatives have no relative significance in the present bull run, and he argued that the same fate might happen to meme coins.
“I feel like meme coin creation platforms will see a similar kind of fade over time.”
Luis Buenaventura, #CryptoPH Thought Leader
This article is published on BitPinas: Did Pump Fun Destroy the Altseason?
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