Pump Fun сo-founder tied to 2017 crypto rug pulls, Wired reports

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Mirjan Hipolito

23.04.2025

Pump Fun сo-founder tied to 2017 crypto rug pulls, Wired reports — From teen coin creator to meme coin mogul

Dylan Kerler, co-founder and developer of the "meme coin factory" Pump Fun, is facing accusations over alleged rug pulls dating back to 2017. The creators of the Pump.Fun platform claim their mission is to protect investors from bad actors by standardizing the way tokens are launched.

However, a Wired investigation has revealed that one of the key figures behind the project — Dylan Kerler — is linked to the launch of at least eight tokens, two of which — eBitcoinCash and EthereumCash — gained momentum among crypto enthusiasts before crashing, prompting accusations of fraud from investors.

An analysis by blockchain security firm CertiK shows that through the sale of eBitcoinCash and EthereumCash, the developer known as Dylan Kerler earned up to $75,000 worth of cryptocurrency at 2017 prices — an amount that would now be worth approximately $400,000.

“After waiting for market traction and price growth, they quickly cashed out and exited... We strongly suspect that EthereumCash was used by the developer to deceive,” said Tilley Wan, Chief Security Officer at CertiK.

Pump Fun was launched in January 2024 by three young entrepreneurs — Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen, and Dylan Kerler. The platform quickly became a hub for launching and trading meme coins, an extremely volatile type of cryptocurrency often created solely for speculative purposes.

In just 15 months, Pump Fun reportedly generated over $600 million from its 1% trading fee, according to third-party estimates.

Crypto geniuses and their admirers

All three co-founders have made efforts to keep their identities, locations, and the startup’s corporate structure private. This secrecy partly stems from concerns over “personal safety,” Tweedale told Wired in an interview last year, acting as a safeguard against potential extortionists drawn by the crypto wealth flowing through Pump.Fun.

Of the trio, Kerler is arguably the most enigmatic, with little public association to Pump.Fun aside from documentation filed with Companies House, the UK’s corporate registry, listing him as a director. According to Tweedale, Kerler’s role is to lead the developer team, writing code for the platform and building new features.

Yet digital breadcrumbs scattered across GitHub, YouTube, LinkedIn, Medium, and other online platforms link Kerler to the 2017 launches of eBitcoinCash and EthereumCash. He promoted both tokens on BitcoinTalk, making numerous promises and generating enough hype to drive EthereumCash’s market value to £1.3 million.

However, those behind EthereumCash then began secretly selling their holdings, which caused the token’s value to plummet by 88%. The resulting 240 ETH was funneled through multiple wallets on centralized exchanges.

According to Wired, neither Pump Fun nor Kerler responded to requests for comment regarding the past incident. It is worth noting, however, that Dylan Kerler was only 16 years old in 2017, and likely did not fully grasp the ethical weight of his actions.

As we wrote, Pump fun, once a trailblazer in launching meme tokens on Solana, is now experiencing a dramatic downturn as its revenues and user activity decline sharply.

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