Trader turns $341 into $157,600 on Solana World Cup coin

A trader bought $341 of a Solana-based World Cup meme coin in mid-May and converted it into a combined $157,600 after realizing $49,400 in sales and retaining $108,200 of the token. The coin, named World Cup Coin, launched May 11 on Solana token launchpad Pump.fun.

On-chain data show the buyer made the initial purchase via five transactions when the token’s market capitalization was under $40,000. Within a day the market cap rose to about $2.18 million and then to $6 million, allowing the trader to sell roughly $35,700 during those two pumps.

Over the following week the token declined about 49% to a $3.15 million market cap before surging to an all-time high of $12.2 million on May 21. By the peak the trader had realized $49,400 through 78 transactions and still held $108,200 of the coin, according to block explorer SolScan and DEX Screener.

At the time of reporting the World Cup Coin’s market cap stood around $8.37 million and the trader’s combined realized and unrealized position equaled $157,600. The trader’s remaining holdings are subject to price swings.

Pump.fun also issued nation-specific tokens for countries competing in the tournament. France, Spain and Portugal show the largest market capitalizations among the national coins, at about $315,000, $255,000 and $225,000 respectively. On-chain records indicate the same trader holds roughly $9,400 in the Spain token.

Market activity around these coins increased as the June 11 tournament kickoff between hosts Mexico and South Africa approached. A prediction market assigns Mexico about a 68% chance of winning the opening match. The World Cup final is scheduled for July 19. The World Cup Coin and related national tokens are not official FIFA products.