What is PumaPay (PMA) Crypto Coin? A Realistic Look at the Pull-Payment Protocol
Dec, 15 2025
PumaPay (PMA) is not another meme coin or speculative token. It’s a payment protocol built on Ethereum that tried to solve a real problem: recurring crypto payments. Launched in May 2018, its goal was simple - let merchants pull money from customers’ wallets automatically, like a subscription service, without forcing the customer to click ‘pay’ every time. That’s different from almost every other crypto payment system out there, which rely on the customer pushing funds to the merchant. PumaPay called this the PullPayment Protocol.
How PumaPay Actually Works
Most crypto payments work like cash: you hand over money when you buy something. PumaPay flipped that. Imagine you sign up for a monthly gaming subscription. Instead of logging in every month and sending PMA tokens manually, the merchant uses a smart contract to pull the exact amount from your wallet on the due date. You approve the terms once - how much, when, how often - and then it happens automatically.
This isn’t magic. It’s built on Ethereum using two core smart contracts:
- PumaPay Token Contract: Tracks who owns how many PMA tokens. It’s an ERC20 token, so it works with any Ethereum wallet like MetaMask or Trust Wallet.
- PullContract: This is the engine. It stores the payment rules between merchant and customer. It checks if the customer has enough PMA, if the date is right, and then moves the funds. Merchants can customize these rules - daily, weekly, monthly, or even pay-per-use.
The system also includes off-chain tools: a mobile wallet for users, a business dashboard for merchants, and a fiat settlement layer that converts crypto to USD or EUR so businesses don’t have to hold PMA. That last part was key - it removed the risk of price swings for merchants.
Who Was PumaPay For?
PumaPay didn’t aim for Amazon or Walmart. It targeted high-risk industries that traditional payment processors like Visa or PayPal refuse to serve: adult entertainment, online gaming, crypto casinos, and subscription-based services with high chargeback rates.
Why? Because those businesses get locked out of banking systems. Crypto was their only option. But even crypto processors like BitPay or Coinbase Commerce required customers to initiate each payment. That didn’t work well for recurring billing. PumaPay offered a solution no one else did - a way to automate payments without relying on banks or credit cards.
And it was free. No setup fees. No monthly charges. Just plug in the PullContract, and you’re ready. That’s rare in payment tech.
Why It Never Took Off
Here’s the hard truth: PumaPay’s technology worked. The code was sound. But adoption? Almost nonexistent.
Its native token, PMA, peaked at $0.00164 in 2018. As of December 2025, it trades around $0.000002. That’s a 99.9% drop. Year-over-year, it’s down 78% against USD and over 87% against Bitcoin.
Why? Three big reasons:
- No merchant adoption. Even in high-risk niches, most businesses stuck with simpler solutions - like manually asking users to send crypto each month. Setting up smart contracts felt too technical.
- No wallet integration. You couldn’t find PMA on Coinbase, Binance, or even most DeFi wallets. You had to use niche platforms like Noone.io. That made it hard for users to even get PMA.
- No marketing, no updates. Since 2020, there’s been almost no public development activity. No roadmap updates. No team announcements. No new partnerships. The project went quiet.
Compare that to BitPay, which processes over $6 billion a year, or Crypto.com Pay, which integrates directly with Visa cards. PumaPay had a better idea - but no scale, no visibility, no network effect.
Security and How to Use PMA
If you still hold PMA, treat it like any other low-liquidity token. Security is critical.
Noone.io, one of the few wallets that supports PMA, recommends:
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your wallet
- Never share your private key or 12-word recovery phrase
- Store your phrase offline - on paper, not in a cloud note
- Keep your wallet app updated
- Only use trusted platforms to buy or trade PMA
There are no official PumaPay apps anymore. The mobile app and business console are offline. The only way to interact with PMA is through Ethereum-compatible wallets that support ERC20 tokens - and even then, you’ll need to manually add the token contract address.
Is PumaPay Still Alive?
Technically, yes. The smart contracts are still on the Ethereum blockchain. PMA tokens still exist. But the company behind it - founded by Yoav Dror in Cyprus - has vanished from public view.
Its original plan was to eventually move off Ethereum and launch its own blockchain. That never happened. No whitepaper updates. No GitHub commits since 2021. The website is a static page with no contact info.
Price predictions for 2026 range from $0.00068 to $0.00077 - still 99.9% below its peak. Technical analysts see no breakout potential. The Bollinger Bands show PMA trading in a 3-cent range - meaning almost zero volatility, and even less liquidity.
What PumaPay Got Right - And Why It Still Matters
Even though PumaPay failed, its idea was ahead of its time. Recurring crypto payments are still a problem today. Platforms like Shopify and Stripe don’t support them natively. DeFi protocols still struggle with automated billing.
PumaPay proved you could build a pull-based payment system on Ethereum. It showed that smart contracts could handle subscription logic without intermediaries. That concept lives on - in newer projects like Superfluid, Gitcoin, or even Layer 2 solutions trying to enable streaming payments.
So PumaPay isn’t dead as an idea. It’s dead as a product. The world moved on. But if you’re building a crypto payment system today, you’re standing on the shoulders of what PumaPay tried to do.
Should You Buy PMA Today?
Almost certainly not.
If you’re looking for a payment solution - look at Coinbase Commerce, BitPay, or even Lightning Network for Bitcoin. They’re active, supported, and integrated with real businesses.
If you’re speculating - PMA has no catalyst. No team. No roadmap. No exchange support. The market has already voted. It’s trading at 0.000002 USD because no one wants it.
There’s no upside left. Only risk.
PumaPay’s story isn’t about a failed coin. It’s about a brilliant idea that crashed because of poor execution, zero marketing, and a market that wasn’t ready - or willing - to adopt it.