Pump.fun, Solana’s most viral memecoin launchpad, recently revised its user policy to exclude UK users due to a warning from the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA accused Pump.fun of “promoting financial services or products without…permission”
The warning, meted via an official statement, also advised UK users to stop engaging with the platform. It warned that users who keep engaging with the platform will not be eligible for protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which protects them from financial losses, especially if the company ceases to operate.
The FCA, the UK’s chief financial regulator, requires that all cryptocurrency platforms register with it or cease providing services to UK residents. This rule was introduced in 2020 and since then, only 47 out of 347 applications to register have been successful. This small margin of successful registrations has been attributed to the FCA’s stringent requirements.
Pump.fun Faces Critics
PumpFun was launched in March 2024 with the idea to simplify the launch of meme-inspired cryptocurrencies. Since it’s then, the platform has generated over $250 million in revenue and has helped launch over 2.5 million memcoins.
Pump.fun came under serious criticism recently due to its live-streaming feature which was thoroughly exploited for spreading harmful content. The community argued on X that the misuse of the streaming feature is due to the platform’s failure to moderate the content on its platform to ensure a safer experience for its users.
pump.fun, in response to the community backlash, paused its streaming feature indefinitely and cited “unprecedented growth” as its primary challenge concerning content moderation.
The removal of the streaming feature caused their revenue to drop from $33 million to $11 million in the following week, a staggering 66% decline.
