Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov slams Pump.fun as a “casino of scams” as research shows just 0.2% of tokens graduate. | Credit: CCN.com
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Key Takeaways
Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov criticized Pump.fun as a “casino of scams called memecoins” and questioned the quality of some of Solana’s most visible applications.
Egorov also took aim at Phantom’s hardware-wallet experience, arguing it was worse than MetaMask despite Phantom becoming one of Solana’s dominant consumer gateways.
The criticism revives a broader debate over whether Solana’s explosive consumer activity is producing durable applications or primarily high-risk speculative trading.
Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov has taken aim at two of Solana’s most prominent consumer applications, criticizing memecoin launchpad Pump.fun and wallet provider Phantom while questioning the quality of the ecosystem’s flagship products.
In comments circulated by Wu Blockchain, Egorov described Pump.fun as a “casino of scams called memecoins” and argued that Phantom’s hardware-wallet experience was worse than MetaMask’s.
He acknowledged that Solana has been effective at supporting its ecosystem, but argued that the applications most commonly presented as its success stories were not particularly strong.
Curve Finance founder Michael Egorov criticized Pumpfun as “a casino of scams called memecoins”. | Source: @newmichwill
The criticism puts a prominent Ethereum DeFi founder on the opposite side of one of crypto’s biggest growth stories: Solana’s ability to turn inexpensive transactions and consumer-friendly applications into enormous speculative activity.
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Pump.fun’s Growth Comes With a High-Risk Trade-Off
Pump.fun dramatically lowered the barrier to launching tokens on Solana by allowing users to create instantly tradable memecoins without initially seeding a conventional liquidity pool. Tokens trade through a bonding curve before qualifying for broader liquidity.
Egorov’s “casino” criticism also lands against a mixed record for retail profitability.
CoinGecko research based on Dune data found that losing money was the norm for Pump.fun traders through much of 2024 and 2025. In June 2025, just 30.1% of active wallets with realized positions were profitable, meaning almost 70% ended the month in the red.
The picture improved considerably in 2026. Profitability reached 56.8% in February, 70% in March and 73.3% in April. However, most winning wallets earned relatively small amounts: roughly 65% of all active wallets made between $1 and $500 in April.
The figures also exclude unrealized losses from traders still holding collapsed tokens, an important limitation when assessing memecoin outcomes.
Pump.fun Data Shows How Few Tokens Develop Into Lasting Markets
Phantom itself warns users that Pump.fun tokens can launch without audits, formal teams or established liquidity, and may be abandoned or used maliciously.
Recent research underscores just how difficult it is for launches to develop into lasting markets. An analysis of more than 832,000 Pump.fun launches between May and June 2026 found only about 0.2% graduated within the study’s measurement framework.
🔥 BULLISH: For the first time since May 2024, more than 50% of Pumpfun traders were profitable in 2026, peaking at 73.3% in April.
Separate research examining more than 166,000 launches identified persistent groups of wallets repeatedly appearing among early buyers, highlighting the complex and sometimes coordinated trading behavior surrounding new tokens.
Pump.fun Defender Pushes Back
ClawPump co-founder Tomi204 pushed back on Egorov’s characterization, arguing that Pump.fun provides infrastructure while users determine how that infrastructure is used.
That defense reflects Pump.fun’s longstanding proposition: rather than vetting projects before launch, the platform gives virtually anyone access to standardized token-creation and trading infrastructure.
Pump.fun’s model does reduce some technical barriers associated with launching tokens, but it cannot remove the economic risks created by anonymous issuers, extreme volatility and rapid speculative trading.
Academic research has similarly found evidence of speculative and potentially manipulative dynamics around Pump.fun launches, while emphasizing that early token behavior varies substantially depending on launch characteristics.
Phantom Criticism Broadens the Solana Debate
Egorov’s criticism was not limited to memecoins. He also questioned Phantom’s user experience, particularly when interacting with hardware wallets, and argued that established software products can deteriorate after gaining market recognition.
Tomi204 countered that Phantom may still be the best wallet option for average users.
pump fun just provides a service, people use it however they want, that’s the free market. Lots of things in crypto are a casino, even on Ethereum – the truth is the memecoin market exists and pump fun dominates it; if it didn’t exist, someone else would be doing the same thing.…
That disagreement gets to the larger issue behind the exchange. Solana has demonstrated that it can attract enormous consumer activity; the debate is increasingly about the quality and durability of that activity.
Pump.fun represents Solana’s success in making onchain speculation exceptionally accessible. Egorov’s criticism challenges whether accessibility alone should be treated as evidence of a stronger crypto ecosystem.
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Giuseppe Ciccomascolo began his career as an investigative journalist in Italy, where he contributed to both local and national newspapers, focusing on various financial sectors.
Upon relocating to London, he worked as an analyst for Fitch's CapitalStructure and later as a Senior Reporter for Alliance News. In 2017, Giuseppe transitioned to covering cryptocurrency-related news, producing documentaries and articles on Bitcoin and other emerging digital currencies. He also played a pivotal role in establishing the academy for a cryptocurrency exchange website. Crypto remained his primary area of interest throughout his tenure as a writer for ThirdFloor.
