Crypto "Robinhood" tries to destroy memecoins

Came across this story today and thought it was worth sharing.

TL;DR: A senior dev tried to destroy Pump.fun to "save people" from memecoins. Stole $2M, airdropped it random accounts Robin Hood-style, ended up arrested.

Background

In January 2024, three entrepreneurs launched Pump.fun on Solana. The platform lets anyone create a memecoin without any technical knowledge required.

• First month: $60M in revenue
• Total revenue after 17 months: $800M+
• Over 6 million tokens launched

The Incident

On May 16, 2024, Jarett Dunn, a senior developer at Pump.fun (known as @STACCoverflow online), used his admin access to extract approximately $2M from newly launched tokens over a 100-minute period.

Instead of keeping the funds, he distributed portions to random Solana wallets.

Dunn stated his motivation was: "I just kind of wanted to kill Pump.fun because it's something to do. It's inadvertently hurt people for a long time."

The Investigation and Arrest

A private intelligence firm tracked Dunn using social media posts and open source intelligence. After 26 hours, they located him at the Middle Eight Hotel in London's Covent Garden. He was arrested at 7 AM.

Dunn was diagnosed with schizoaffective bipolar disorder, panic disorder, and ADHD. His legal team cited a mental health crisis following his mother's death.

Legal Proceedings

In August 2024, Dunn pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and transfer of criminal property. The judge indicated a minimum seven-year sentence. Dunn immediately attempted to withdraw his plea.

In June 2025, he violated bail conditions by moving from London to Liverpool without authorization and tampering with his ankle monitor. He was re-arrested and is currently held at HMP Pentonville prison.

Platform Performance Post-Incident

While Dunn has been in custody, Pump.fun has continued growing:

• July 12, 2025: Completed a $600M ICO that sold out in 12 minutes (third largest ICO in crypto history)
• Total funding including private sales: $1.32B
• Revenue before the attack: $43.9M
• Revenue after: $800M+

Current Status

Dunn remains in prison while Pump.fun has become one of the most well-known platforms in crypto.