I think that in reality nothing is really free of pump and dumps.
But for bitcoin pump and dumps attempts can get diluted by arbitrage and the fact there are a good number of CEX, DEX and OTCex all competing, so they (P&D) do need big effort.
If it is a free market, everyone who are smart and have enough power can pump and dump it. If it is a centralized and controlled market like by governments, it will be pumped and dumped by governments.
Markets are not markets if there is no wave including pumps and dumps and I would feel very boring if cryptocurrency market don't have such manipulations. If you want to be safe and won't be affected by manipulations, pumps and dumps, you can invest and hold. If you trade with Spot or worse trade with Margin and Futures, you will be seriously affected by manipulation.