Onchain analytics platform Bubblemaps has published an investigation into @0xEthan, a crypto influencer active on the token launch platform pump.fun, alleging a repeatable pattern: buy a token first, promote it to an audience second, and sell almost immediately afterward.

According to the firm's estimates, the activity generated roughly $125,000 in total profits across 49 token callouts. For the roughly 88,000 people who follow the account, that figure may land a little differently than the original posts did.

What Bubblemaps says it found

The investigation, released on October 9, 2026, examined 49 specific tokens that @0xEthan promoted to his audience. According to Bubblemaps, wallets associated with the influencer bought each token shortly before it was publicly promoted.

The selling reportedly began quickly. Bubblemaps found that the linked wallets typically started unloading tokens about three minutes after a promotion went live — often while @0xEthan was still talking up the tokens' upside to followers.

Bubblemaps characterized the pattern of pre-callout buys followed by rapid selling as an "extraction scheme," and described the activity as ongoing rather than a closed chapter. That framing matters: it presents the findings as a snapshot of behavior the firm says was still in progress when published, not a settled historical case.

Breaking down the estimated $125,000

The headline figure comes from two separate income streams, according to Bubblemaps' calculations.

About $45,000 is estimated to have come from trading profits — money allegedly made by buying tokens ahead of the callouts and selling into the buying pressure that followed. The larger slice, roughly $80,000, is attributed to callout rewards, meaning most of the estimated haul came not from trading, but from the act of promoting tokens itself. Spread across all 49 callouts, the combined estimate averages out to roughly $2,500 per callout on Bubblemaps' figures.

The investigation did not start in a vacuum. Bubblemaps credited a tip from a user, @bandosei, as the starting point for digging into the account. Media outlets picked up the findings between October 9 and 11, 2026, spreading the allegations well beyond the original thread.

Why this pattern keeps showing up

In crypto trading, this behavior is often called front-running a callout. An influencer, or someone close to them, buys a token before telling an audience about it. Followers then pile in, pushing the price up, and the early buyer sells into that demand.

Platforms like pump.fun make the mechanic especially visible. Tokens launch quickly, attention moves fast, and a single post from an account with a large following can move prices on thinly traded assets. That speed is central to the alleged pattern: a three-minute selling window placed the linked wallets' exits at the front edge of the attention each callout drew.

What this means for traders and influencers

Bubblemaps' findings also highlight how blockchain transparency can work against those attempting to profit quietly. Every purchase and sale leaves a trail, and firms like Bubblemaps specialize in connecting those trails to real accounts. A single tip from one user was enough to set the process in motion.

For retail traders, the practical takeaway is about timing. If wallets linked to a promoter are selling within three minutes of a post, anyone buying on the callout may be arriving after the profitable part of the trade has already occurred.

The fact that callout rewards accounted for the bulk of the estimated profit also underscores how lucrative promotion alone can be. And because Bubblemaps described the activity as ongoing rather than a closed chapter, the point to watch from here is whether the firm's estimates are updated as new transactions settle onchain. The origin of this case — a tip from a single user, @bandosei — is also a reminder of how these investigations begin: with a community member flagging the pattern first.