Pump.fun

PUMP is the token of the platform where a very large share of Solana memecoins are created. The platform lets anyone launch a token in seconds using a bonding curve, and it earns fees on every launch and trade — a business with genuinely large revenue and an uncomfortable source.

How the bonding curve launch works

A new token starts on a pricing curve where each purchase raises the price along a formula. Once enough has been bought, the token graduates to a conventional exchange pool. This removes the need for a founder to provide initial liquidity, which is what made launching accessible to anyone.

The revenue is real and so is its source

The platform earns fees on creation and trading, and volumes have been very large. That is genuine revenue rather than emissions. It comes overwhelmingly from tokens that go to zero shortly after launch, which is a fact about the business rather than an editorial judgement.

Base rates in this category

The overwhelming majority of tokens launched on such platforms lose essentially all value within a short period. That is the expected outcome rather than the exception, and anyone participating should treat it as the base rate rather than assuming they will identify the exceptions.

Vertical integration concentrates control

Operating the launchpad and the exchange venue together means one party controls issuance, graduation criteria and trading. That is efficient and removes the separation that would let one component check the other.

What to weigh

A platform token attached to a business with substantial fee income, whose customers are participants in a market with a very high loss rate. Both facts are relevant to valuing it.