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Anatoly Yakovenko, cofounder of Solana (SOL) Labs, has predicted that Pump.Fun (PUMP) could emerge as a challenger to TikTok. Yakovenko’s prediction comes as a reaction to a post on X made by Laura Shin of Unchained, about the crypto-focused brand now going live on Pump.Fun.
Genesis of Pump.Fun and TikTok comparison
Yakovenko believes that with the growing adoption of Pump.Fun, it might become a major rival to the video content social media platform. "The next social network war is going to be TikTok vs Pump," he wrote.
The Solana Lab cofounder suggests that Pump.Fun has an edge to compete as it ties in crypto-native features like meme coins, ownership incentives, creator fees and others, altogether on a decentralized platform. This allows creators and communities to directly monetize their content and participate in the space.
However, TikTok is a traditional centralized platform that currently dominates the distribution of social media content. Notably, ads on TikTok go to the platform.
Yakovenko argued that with Pump.Fun’s model, creators receive built-in monetization through tokens and community engagement. He opines that this could give Pump.Fun the leverage to compete head-on with TikTok.
Worth mentioning is that TikTok has over 1.5 billion users globally and continues to grow rapidly as adoption spikes among the younger population. Yakovenko, nonetheless, thinks that decentralized platforms like Pump.Fun could compete by leveraging crypto-native distribution for social platforms.
According to Laura Shin, Unchained on Pump.Fun is strategic for the expansion of their streaming episodes. The entity has also created a meme coin for its brand, and users could decide to trade it. However, Unchained will collect a standard creator fee of approximately 1%.
Unchained considers the move a bold experiment in crypto media and remains optimistic about its prospects. It will be interesting to see how this precedent will evolve in the long term for the crypto media world amid Yakovenko’s positive prediction of the prospects that lie ahead.
Growth, criticism, market performance of Pump.Fun
Pump.Fun, the Solana-based meme coin factory, has been a major highlight in the cryptocurrency industry, with positives and negative trends trailing it.
In April 2025, Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum founder, criticized Pump.Fun, claiming it was a bad example of a crypto project application. He suggested that the platform does not prioritize ethics.
Despite the criticism, Pump.Fun has continued to gain traction among users in the crypto space. In the last 30 days, the PUMP price has jumped by 58.69% in value, and as of press time, it changes hands at $0.005366. There are predictions that its value could hit $0.01 by the end of 2025.
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov
U.Today Editorial Team