In a new development, on-chain data from DeFiLlama shows that Pump.fun, a launch platform on Solana that allows users to create and deploy tokens, primarily meme coins, generates more fees than some of the major protocols on Solana and Ethereum.
Pump.fun generates more fees than Ethereum
DeFiLlama data shows that the launchpad generated $5.3 million in fees in the past day alone. At this rate, it’s nearly double the $2.3 million made by Lido, a top liquidity staking platform on Ethereum.
Interestingly, Pump.fun generates more fees than Ethereum, a network known for charging relatively higher gas fees than all other blockchains. Over the past day, Ethereum generated $1.67 million in fees.
Meanwhile, Solana transfers and the implementation of on-chain smart contracts have seen the platform distribute $1.32 million in fees to validators. The interest in Pump.fun has also seen the network grow faster than Thronewhich dominates USDT transfer. Over the past day, Tron generated $1.15 million in fees.
The surge in interest in Pump.fun, which explains the spike in on-chain gas fees, could be due to its value proposition. Through this launchpad, users can not only create tokens but also trade them instantly for less than $2 in “just one click,” according to their description on X. It’s the ease of use and the spike in popularity of meme coins on Solana that has catapulted Pump.fun to the forefront of crypto.
Plans to make token mining successful
Even as Pump.fun soars and generates millions in fees, research findings point to other problems. It is becoming clear that less than 0.002% of all tokens ever launched from the launch pad reach a market cap of $1 million.
Out of the millions of meme coins that were launched, only 41 maintained a market cap of $1 million for a few weeks. The poor performance could be because most of the meme coins that are launched do not offer any value and are only for entertainment.
In a new update On August 9, Pump.fun said it plans to implement changes and encourage the creation of more successful tokens. As such, the launchpad will not charge users any fees when they deploy a new token.
In the previous scheme, users had to pay around $2 in SOL to create tokens. This fee is now transferred to the first buyer of the token.
In general, the goal is to incentivize developers to push their tokens at least through the critical “bonding curve” phase, which will push their market cap to at least above $70,000. If the token passes this phase, it will automatically be listed on Raydium with the issuer getting paid 0.5 SOL.
Main image from Canva, chart from TradingView