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PUMP reclaims ICO price as shorts and longs clash

Inside: PUMP’s rebound, gold tokenization plans, Robinhood’s S&P 500 moonshot, and the AI voices shaping the next wave.

Author

Cryptopolitan News
September 08, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

PUMP recovers ICO price as whales test the market

Pump.fun’s native token PUMP is back at its ICO level, trading near $0.005 after climbing 110% from local lows. The rebound has brought whales back into play, with trading momentum shifting toward Hyperliquid, where activity has now surpassed Bybit pairs.

After an early wave of selling, the token was widely seen as at risk of fading. But renewed open interest and spot activity have revived attention. Pump.fun itself has been supporting the price, buying back more than 5.8% of supply with platform fees and redistributing part of it to creators.

Whales shift the tone
On-chain data shows sentiment remains mixed:

  • Short-heavy positioning: Over 51% of whale wallets on Hyperliquid are still short, making PUMP one of the more bearish assets on the exchange.

  • Contrarian play: One large trader flipped long, opening $6.3M in positions which are being now seen as a conviction test.

  • Signal effect: Because Hyperliquid makes positions public, these whale moves often shape how others approach the market.

Platform momentum builds
The token sale was a spectacle. Pump.fun raised $500M in just 12 minutes, but post-launch activity slowed. Lately, momentum is back:

  • Daily token launches: 16K–24K through August.

  • Fee recovery: From lows near $500K to more than $5.7M in a single day, the strongest since February.

  • SOL tailwind: With Solana breaking above $213, traders see a setup for PUMP to ride broader market momentum.

The platform is also experimenting with ways to keep new tokens alive longer by paying creators for marketing and social activity. But on-chain data still shows many projects collapsing quickly after launch.

For now, PUMP trades like a coin caught between conviction and skepticism, undervalued on paper if sell pressure eases, but still weighed down by shorts.

📈 Market Watch

The WGC just proposed Pooled Gold Interest (PGI) tokens, digital claims backed by 400-ounce gold bars sitting in London vaults. Traders would be able to own fractions of those bars and even use them as collateral.

Here’s the context:

  • London’s bullion market is worth nearly $930B, moving 20M ounces a day.

  • PGI tokens are designed to make gold function like bonds or cash in collateral markets making it liquid, divisible, and programmable.

  • Web3 builders have been talking about tokenizing real-world assets for years. Now the gold establishment is trying it, without calling it “DeFi.”

But there are caveats:

  • Hardcore “gold bugs” might never embrace a digital wrapper. For them, the whole point is holding the physical bar.

  • Tokenized collateral only works if big banks and clearing houses actually accept it. That’s still untested.

  • It’s not clear whether regulators will treat PGI tokens as securities, commodities, or something else.

📢 Signal: RWA tokenization is no longer theory. If gold can move on-chain, bonds and treasuries won’t be far behind.
💭 Noise: Branding it as “digital gold” grabs headlines, but mainstream adoption depends on regulators and institutions, not token design.

📈 Chart our analyst is watching

Robinhood (HOOD) looks parabolic.
The stock ripped higher after S&P Global said it will be added to the S&P 500 on Sept. 22, replacing Caesars Entertainment.

Why the jump?
Index funds that mirror the S&P 500 now have to buy Robinhood shares. That forced demand lifted the price almost 7% within hours.

What Robinhood actually does:

  • Commission-free stock and options trading, the first big app to make it mainstream.

  • A major entry point for retail into crypto. It still holds billions in BTC, ETH, DOGE for its users.

  • Known for its role in the meme stock era (GameStop, AMC).

📚 Quick explainer: How S&P 500 picks are made

  • A small group at S&P Dow Jones Indices reviews the list.

  • Companies need to be profitable, liquid, and among the largest U.S. firms.

  • The committee meets quarterly but can make changes in between.

  • Once a company is added, index funds are forced buyers, which usually gives the stock a quick lift.

Top AI voices to follow on X

Here are Cryptopolitan’s top picks:

  • Emad Mostaque (@EMostaque) – Ex-Stability AI CEO. Outspoken on open-source vs closed AI, policy battles, and the future of decentralized AI.

  • Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) – Former Tesla AI lead, OpenAI founding member. Breaks down complex AI topics in plain English.

  • Soumith Chintala (@soumithchintala) – Co-founder of PyTorch. Shares updates from the trenches of deep learning research.

  • Sully Omar (@SullyOmarr) – Founder of Loveable.ai. Posts daily experiments, demos, and practical AI hacks.

  • Nat Friedman (@natfriedman) – Ex-GitHub CEO, now investing across AI startups. Insightful takes on where capital and innovation are flowing.

Monday headline picks: By our Intern

Monday Morning GIF

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