What does CTO mean in crypto? Community takeover
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By Locke
Updated Oct 14, 2026 · 3 min read
6 sources checkedRead our editorial policy
Key takeaways
- CTO in crypto means community takeover: the dev sells or leaves a memecoin, and holders take over its socials and marketing. On BILLY, holders made a new Telegram, X account and website within hours.
- Pump.fun has an official CTO process: control of the creator fees (0.30% of each bonding curve trade) and some admin rights moves from the original deployer to a team that the community picks.
- Before you buy a CTO coin, check that the dev wallet holds none of the coin, that the new links match the coin’s DEX Screener page, and who holds the supply. The new team can sell too.
On this page
CTO in crypto means community takeover. The creator of a memecoin sells or leaves, and the holders take over the coin’s socials, website and marketing. CTOs are closely tied to pump.fun, where anyone can launch a coin and the site runs its own CTO process: our pump.fun guide explains how launches work.
How it works
A CTO starts when the dev stops. The dev wallet sells its tokens, or the dev goes silent. If holders still believe in the meme, they make new accounts and keep the coin alive. BILLY, a Solana dog coin from pump.fun, shows the steps:
| Stage | What happened on BILLY (2024) |
|---|---|
| The dev leaves | The dev sold all of its tokens within 20 minutes of launch, most of them in one sale for $1,116. |
| Holders take over | Within hours, holders made a new Telegram group, a new X account and a new website, and updated the links on DEX Screener. |
| The community runs the coin | A team of up to 100 people shared the marketing and social media work. BILLY peaked at a $215 million market cap. |
Sources: Decrypt report on BILLY (opens in a new tab).
Two things tie CTOs to pump.fun. First, anyone can create a coin there (pump.fun homepage (opens in a new tab)), with no platform fee, only Solana network costs (pump.fun fee page (opens in a new tab)). So devs often launch a coin and leave, and the Decrypt report (opens in a new tab) says that CTOs are everywhere on pump.fun.
Second, the creator earns 0.30% of each bonding curve trade, and 0.05% to 0.95% of each PumpSwap trade after graduation. The pump.fun terms (opens in a new tab) (section 4.6) describe a CTO as a handover of control of these creator fees and certain admin rights from the original deployer to a team or person that the community picks. Pump.fun decides each CTO itself. Since January 2026, creators and CTO admins can split the fees across up to 10 wallets (The Block report (opens in a new tab)).
DEX Screener also tracks takeovers: its API lists “the latest token community takeovers” with the date of each claim (DEX Screener API docs (opens in a new tab)).
What to do next
- You found a CTO coin: open the creator address on a block explorer or on the launchpad page, and check that the old dev wallet sold out. If it still holds a big share, it can sell into the new team’s hype.
- You want to trust the new team: compare the X, Telegram and website links on the coin’s DEX Screener page with the links that the CTO group posts. Anyone can say that they lead a CTO, so use only the links that match.
- You worry about a dump: check the top holders. The CTO team holds tokens too, and a big sale by the new team is still a rug pull. Run the five checks for new memecoins before you buy.
- You want to trade CTO coins on pump.fun: buy a small amount and plan your sell first. Pump.fun warns on its homepage: “Prices can move quickly, so trade carefully.”
Bottom line
A CTO is a community takeover: the dev leaves, and the holders run the coin. It can keep a coin alive, but it does not make the coin safe. Check the dev wallet, the new links and the top holders before you buy, and learn the other memecoin words in our crypto slang guide.
Sources
- pump.fun: Pump.fun terms and conditions, section 4.6 (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 14, 2026
- pump.fun docs: Pump.fun fee page (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 14, 2026
- pump.fun: pump.fun homepage (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 14, 2026
- Decrypt: Report on the BILLY community takeover (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 14, 2026
- DEX Screener docs: DEX Screener API reference (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 14, 2026
- The Block: Report on the pump.fun creator fee changes (opens in a new tab) · checked Oct 14, 2026
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