Pump.fun placates Padre tokenholders with airdrop promise

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Readers of this newsletter know the crypto M&A boom of 2025 hasn’t been without controversy.

Well, the latest came over the weekend.

On Friday, memecoin launchpad Pump.fun announced its acquisition of Padre, a memecoin trading terminal. Since then, the Padre token has fallen 67%

And it’s no wonder why.

“The $PADRE token will no longer have utility on the platform with no further plans for the future,” Pump.fun said while announcing the acquisition.

Predictably, this led to a wave of criticism.

“Pump.fun [is] fully discarding the rights of tokenholders in a project they are acquiring,” one observer wrote. “Until there is a legal framework that prevents this, crypto is inherently uninvestable.”

It wasn’t until Sunday that Pump.fun tried to set things right by Padre holders, announcing they would be compensated in PUMP tokens of equal value to the PADRE tokens they held a minute before the acquisition was announced.

So far, it’s been a win for Padre holders: Pump tokens have gained 20% since the acquisition was announced.

The solution had a handful of critics on social media. But the response was overwhelmingly positive, proof that, in crypto, “number go up” can fix just about any problem.

For Pump.fun, Padre’s appeal was obvious. Pump’s business will now expand beyond its home blockchain, Solana, as Padre allows users to trade tokens on Ethereum, Solana, Base, and BNB Chain.

Over the past 30 days, it has generated more revenue than DeFi stalwarts GMX, dYdX, Sushi, as well as the Avalanche blockchain.

Some of that revenue will go toward boosting the Pump token, according to the company’s website. On Friday, Padre revenue started flowing into the bucket of money used to buy back PUMP tokens. As of Monday, Pump.fun had bought back about 10% of the PUMP supply for $154 million.

The acquisition comes as Pump.fun reasserts itself as the memecoin launchpad nonpareil.

In July, Pump.fun found itself in the midst of a slump, as upstart LetsBonk took the top spot in launchpad market share.

By late August, however, Pump had retaken the stop spot. And its dominance has grown since: Of the eight memecoin launchpads tracked by one crypto analyst, only Pump.fun saw any tokens “graduate” to decentralised exchanges on Sunday.

Pump.fun co-founder Alon Levy praised the Padre team on social media.

“With less time in the market, fewer resources, and less distribution, they were able to become one of the most popular trading tools onchain, an incredibly impressive feat,” Levy wrote on X.

“Starting today, we will be dedicating significant resources and attention to making Padre the #1 pro trading terminal in the space by giving users the most advanced, performant, and rewarding product.”

Top DeFi stories of the week

This week in DeFi governance

PROPOSAL: Sky considers replacing USDS staking rewards with SKY tokens

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Post of the week

A pair of MIT-educated brothers who allegedly took advantage of three traders’ MEV bots — making off with $25 million in the process — have gone to trial in New York.

"If we didn’t sandwich attack all those people, and steal their money, who even knows what might have happened to them. They might have even been sandwiched and had their money stolen. So, at the end of the day, who can say" https://t.co/4YJwr5X3Z2 pic.twitter.com/c1xm9Jfv6s

— Doug Colkitt (@0xdoug) October 27, 2025

Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. Got a tip? Email at aleks@dlnews.com.