Pump.fun signed the pseudonymous trader Kimchi as a creative partner on Oct. 20, 20262. Co-founder Alon announced the deal on X that day. A coin named after Kimchi launched within minutes. KIMCHI hit a $44 million market cap inside an hour, SolanaFloor reported1. The trader held about three-quarters of that coin's supply. He pulled $6.43 million worth of PUMP tokens from his account over the next three hours5. KIMCHI's market cap had fallen to $18,150.82 by Oct. 21, 2026, CoinGecko showed3. Its price sat 99.5% below its peak. Pump.fun had called Kimchi crypto's first trader turned celebrity. His fame lasted about a day.
The Coin That Rose $44 Million and Fell to $18,000
KIMCHI's climb came fast. Pump.fun's ecosystem account posted the signing within minutes of Alon's announcement2. Traders piled in behind Kimchi's name. The coin crossed a $30 million market cap in about ten minutes and reached $44 million within the hour, SolanaFloor reported1.
The fall came just as fast. SolanaFloor found only $570,000 in liquidity across every KIMCHI trading pair, even at the coin's peak1. That pool is what traders actually have to sell into. A $44 million market cap resting on $570,000 of real liquidity holds only until sellers show up.
KIMCHI Peaks Near $44 Million on Oct. 20, Falls to $18,150 by Oct. 21
KIMCHI's market cap at four dated points, Oct. 20 to Oct. 21, 2026
Sources: SolanaFloor [1]; CoinGecko [3]; KuCoin News [5].
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Oct. 20, 2026 | Pump.fun signs Kimchi as creative partner |
| Oct. 20, 2026 | KIMCHI hits a $44 million market cap |
| Oct. 21, 2026 | Kimchi withdraws $6.43 million in PUMP |
| Oct. 21, 2026 | KIMCHI's market cap falls to $18,150 |
Sellers showed up within a day. CoinGecko's tracker put KIMCHI's market cap at $18,150.82 as of Oct. 21, 20263. Its price traded at $0.00001816, down 99.5% from its all-time high of $0.003351. The coin's circulating supply sat near 999 million tokens. Pump.fun's own billboard once told traders to "Be the next Kimchi"1. Kimchi's own coin answered that pitch within a day.
Both sides, in their own words
Does fame hold a price the way a company does?
“Kimchi is the first person to truly cross the chasm between crypto and pop culture; the first ever example of a trader becoming a celebrity”
“Posting a receipt would take thirty seconds. A trader who built an entire persona around one trade has every reason to prove it, and he never has”
Why One Wallet Could Sink the Price
Kimchi's wallet explains the math. He held 75.32% of KIMCHI's total supply, the on-chain analyst Ai Yi found5. Three-quarters of a coin's supply sitting in one wallet means the other quarter sets the price for everyone. A small group of early buyers can push a thin market cap into the tens of millions. One large holder can erase it just as fast.
Kimchi moved first. He withdrew 1.35 billion PUMP tokens, worth $6.43 million, across three hours on Oct. 21, 2026, Ai Yi's tracking showed5. PUMP is Pump.fun's own platform token, separate from the KIMCHI coin, but the timing mattered. Traders watching his wallet saw him cash out of the platform that just made him famous, hours after his own coin's price peaked.
This pattern has played out on Pump.fun before. Past creator coins on its app tend to surge, then fade to a sliver of their peak, SolanaFloor noted1. The trader known as ANSEM stands as a rare exception. KIMCHI followed the usual script.
Pump.fun's Reason: A Launchpad War With Fomo
Competition explains the timing. A rival platform called Fomo had just cracked the top ranks of Apple's U.S. finance app chart. Fomo reached third place on Aug. 21, 2026 and passed Cash App, news.Bitcoin.com reported8.
Pump.fun still led on revenue. The platform brought in $45.4 million over the 30 days before Oct. 21, 2026, more than double Fomo's $19 million over the same stretch2. On Oct. 20 alone, Pump.fun earned $1.46 million against Fomo's $365,000.
Pump.fun's 30-Day Revenue Topped Fomo's $45.4 Million to $19 Million, Oct. 2026
Launchpad revenue over the 30 days before Oct. 21, 2026, in millions of US dollars
- Pump.fun's 30-day revenue: $45.4M
- Fomo's 30-day revenue: $19M
Source: KuCoin News [2].
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Pump.fun, 30-day revenue | $45.4M |
| Fomo, 30-day revenue | $19M |
Alon framed the Kimchi signing as a bet on reach beyond revenue. “Kimchi is the first person to truly cross the chasm between crypto and pop culture; the first ever example of a trader becoming a celebrity,” he wrote on X the day of the signing2. A second marketing push paired with that bet. Pump.fun began selling Rolex-backed prize packs that day, priced from $25 to $5,000, and buyers claimed 18 watches within hours.
Alon's wager rests on reaching people who have yet to open a crypto app. Kimchi's name, and his fame, were the hook.
The Case Against Trusting the Fortune
Morten Christensen, founder of the crypto newsletter AirdropAlert, doubts the fortune behind Kimchi's fame. Kimchi says he made $40 million trading the TRUMP token after its January 2025 launch4. He has yet to post a wallet, a trade history, or a profit-and-loss record to back that number up.
“Posting a receipt would take thirty seconds. A trader who built an entire persona around one trade has every reason to prove it, and he never has,” Christensen wrote4. His second point lands closer to the crash itself. “Until a wallet appears, the TRUMP trade is folklore. Until the pool is deep enough to exit, the KIMCHI position is a number on a screen,” he wrote.
Some voices back Kimchi's account instead. The trader Orangie interviewed him in January 2025 and came away convinced. “I tend to believe that Kimchi's reported $40 million profit from Trump coin is genuine,” Orangie said, after watching Kimchi trade meme coins since April 20246.
Pump.fun's own record gives the skeptics more to point to. A securities class action already accuses the platform of running an illegal exchange through three other tokens. The case was filed in the Southern District of New York in January 20257. KIMCHI's crash adds a fourth coin to the pattern the lawsuit describes.
By the numbers
- Pump.fun signed Kimchi as a creative partner on Oct. 20, 2026, and KIMCHI reached a $44 million market cap within an hour1.
- Kimchi holds 75.32% of KIMCHI's total token supply, on-chain analyst Ai Yi found5.
- KIMCHI's market cap sat at $18,150.82 on Oct. 21, 2026, with its price 99.5% below its all-time high3.
- Kimchi withdrew 1.35 billion PUMP tokens, worth $6.43 million, over three hours on Oct. 21, 20265.
- Every KIMCHI trading pair held just $570,000 in combined liquidity at the coin's peak1.
- Pump.fun's 30-day revenue reached $45.4 million, more than double Fomo's $19 million over the same stretch2.
- Fomo's app passed Cash App to reach third place on Apple's U.S. finance chart on Aug. 21, 20268.
What to watch
Watch whether Kimchi posts the wallet that would prove his TRUMP trade. A public address with matching trade history would settle Christensen's challenge in a day. Watch Pump.fun's next celebrity signing, too. Its revenue lead over Fomo gives it room to keep making these bets. The next pick will show whether KIMCHI's crash changed how the platform weighs supply concentration.
Sources
- Pablo, "$KIMCHI Hits $44M ATH After Kimchi Joins Pump.fun App, but Can It Avoid the Fate of Past Creator Coins?," SolanaFloor, Oct. 20, 2026, https://solanafloor.com/news/kimchi-hits-44-m-ath-after-kimchi-joins-pump-fun
- Coinspeaker, "Pump.fun Signs $40M TRUMP Trader Kimchi Amid Launchpad War With Fomo," KuCoin News, Oct. 21, 2026, https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/pump-fun-signs-40m-trump-trader-kimchi-amid-launchpad-war-with-fomo
- "Kimchi Price: KIMCHI/USD Live Price Chart, Market Cap & News Today," CoinGecko, Oct. 21, 2026, https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/kimchi-2
- Morten Christensen, "Who Is Kimchi? The $40M TRUMP Trader Pump.fun Just Signed," AirdropAlert, Oct. 21, 2026, https://airdropalert.com/blogs/who-is-kimchi-guide/
- "Solana trader Kimchi sells $6.43 million worth of PUMP tokens in 3 hours," KuCoin News, Oct. 21, 2026, https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/solana-trader-kimchi-sells-6-43m-worth-of-pump-tokens-in-3-hours
- MarsBit, "Kimchi1x Claims $40M Profit from Trump Coin, Sparking Debate on Meme Coin Speculation," KuCoin News, July 30, 2026, https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/kimchi1x-claims-40m-profit-from-trump-coin-sparks-debate-on-meme-coin-speculation
- Vince Dioquino, "Pump.fun Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged $500M Unregistered Securities Sales," Decrypt, Jan. 31, 2025, https://decrypt.co/303790/pump-fun-faces-class-action-lawsuit-over-alleged-500m-unregistered-securities-sales
- Shiraz Jagati, "FOMO Cracks Top 5 US Finance Charts, Passes Kalshi and Cash App," news.Bitcoin.com, Aug. 31, 2026, https://news.bitcoin.com/finance/fomo-trading-app-top-5-us-finance-charts/