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pump.fun

pump.fun: launching a token in one click

A token-launch platform that went live in 2024: anyone can create a meme coin for a few dollars, it trades on a "bonding curve" first, and moves to an exchange once it hits a threshold. It is the engine of Solana's meme coin boom and one of its most profitable apps.

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How it works

  1. Launch: enter a name, upload an image, pay a small fee, and a new token exists. No code and no liquidity of your own needed.
  2. Bonding curve: the new token first trades inside pump.fun, its price rising automatically along a preset curve as people buy and falling as they sell.
  3. Graduation: once buying reaches a threshold, the token and the funds move together into an exchange liquidity pool (now PumpSwap), and it trades like any other token.

This design solved the early meme coin problem of “the team pulls the pool and runs”, because the protocol adds liquidity according to fixed rules. It did not solve another problem: the vast majority of new tokens go to zero within hours.

Fees, last 30 days$60.8Mpump.fun itself
Highest monthly fees$149.8M2025-01
PumpSwap volume, last 30 days$10.45B
PUMP market cap$2.06BRank #50 by market cap

Data as of 16 Oct 2026, 01:45 UK time · source DefiLlama, CoinGecko

pump.fun monthly feesDefiLlama
$50M$100M202520262025-01 peak $149.8M
PumpSwap monthly volumeDefiLlama
$10B$20B20262026-01 peak $27.82B

Timeline

  • January 2024: launched, and quickly became the default tool for launching meme coins on Solana.
  • May 2024: a former employee abused their access to steal about $1.9 million.
  • November 2024: the livestream feature filled with extreme content, and the platform suspended it.
  • January 2025: fee revenue and Solana’s on-chain meme trading peaked together.
  • March 2025: launched its own exchange, PumpSwap; graduating tokens no longer go to Raydium.
  • July 2025: the PUMP public sale raised about $600 million in a little over ten minutes; part of revenue has since been used to buy back PUMP.
  • Litigation: since 2025 it has faced class actions in the US alleging that it operates like gambling and issues unregistered securities; the outcome is for the courts.

Controversies and risks

  • For participants: most new tokens have no use, prices are driven by sentiment and bots, and retail buyers ending up holding the bag is the norm.
  • For Solana: on-chain volume, fees and MEV tips all depend heavily on meme activity, and pump.fun’s numbers are the thermometer for that dependence.
  • Regulation: the legal status of launch platforms and the tokens themselves remains unclear.

What to watch

  1. Monthly fees: they reflect speculation on Solana more directly than any other metric.
  2. The number of new tokens launched each day and the graduation rate.
  3. The size and persistence of PUMP buybacks.

Sources

  • pump.fun’s website and announcements; fees and volume from DefiLlama, market cap from CoinGecko.
  • This page is an educational summary and is not investment advice.