The throne of the Solana ecosystem meme coin launch platform changes hands

In the Solana ecosystem, a power shift regarding meme coin launch platforms is taking place. The former king Pump.fun is now facing challenges, while the emerging platform LetsBONK is rising to become the new leader.

Pump.fun generated daily revenue of up to $7 million at its peak, with total revenue reaching $677 million within a year and a half, equivalent to drawing $1.2 million daily from the Solana ecosystem. However, while it was immersed in this capital feast, an emerging force named LetsBONK quietly rose.

On a weekend in July 2025, history was rewritten. LetsBONK surpassed Pump.fun with 15,600 token issuances compared to 11,500, achieving a market share of 49.8%, exceeding the latter's 40.9%. Even more notably, LetsBONK also spawned 135 "graduated" tokens, marking the arrival of a new era. This is the first time since January 2024 that Pump.fun has lost its dominant position on the Solana chain.

The Dominance Model of Pump.fun

The business model of Pump.fun can be regarded as the most sophisticated wealth extraction mechanism in the crypto world. It cleverly leverages the frenzy surrounding meme coins to construct an almost flawless siphoning system: users must pay SOL as fuel when creating tokens, and when the market value of the token surpasses a specific threshold and "graduates," an additional transaction fee must be paid.

This mechanism has drained 6.4 million SOL (worth 780 million USD) from the ecosystem within a year and a half, making it the second largest seller of the Solana ecosystem, second only to a certain trading platform. Even more disturbing is that these huge profits have not been reinvested into the ecosystem but have been continuously exchanged for USDC and flowed out, like an ever-running wealth siphon.

In June 2025, when the market share was eroded to 57.5% by emerging platforms, Pump.fun announced the launch of its ICO with a valuation of $4 billion, issuing a total of 1 trillion PUMP tokens. This plan, which claims to "reward early users," actually conceals a harsh reality: less than 5% of addresses on the platform have made over $1,000. The vast majority of participants have become victims of this capital game, while the project team is preparing to initiate a second round of harvesting with the new token.

The Value Revolution of LetsBONK

On April 26, 2025, the well-known meme coin BONK from Solana launched its own platform LetsBONK.fun. In just 24 hours after going live, it attracted 800,000 users, created a trading volume of $300 million, and birthed 2,700 new tokens. Behind this lightning war is a revolutionary value system deeply rooted in the genes of Solana:

1. Ecological Feedback Mechanism: The platform injects 1% of transaction fees into a triple flywheel—part of it is used for BONKSOL node verification to enhance network security, part is used to buy back and burn BONK coins to achieve deflation, and the remaining funds support ecological construction. In July 2025, an upgraded commitment will be made: 50% of revenue will be used to purchase and burn BONK coins, directly feeding back into the community foundation.

2. Creator Economy Revolution: The platform founder personally supports quality projects. When GLONK was launched on the platform, he invested $700 to purchase tokens and publicly held his position, driving its market value to soar to $18 million. In contrast, the Pump.fun version of GLONK, lacking support, saw its market value plummet to $816,000.

3. Developer Gravity Field: A hackathon with a $200,000 prize pool starting in June 2025, attracting innovative projects like DeleGate.fun. Its $DEL token skyrocketed dozens of times in just two days due to the realization of "no-code on-chain operations", proving that ecological incentives can foster real technological innovation.

This symbiotic philosophy has given birth to phenomenal projects like Useless Coin. This parody, originating from a tweet, completes a value rebirth through self-deprecation. While traditional meme coins rely on animal imagery, it leverages the ironic narrative of "cryptocurrency uselessness" to pry open a market capitalization of $264 million, becoming the sharpest spear aimed at the old order.

Paradigm Shift

The rise of LetsBONK reflects three major paradigm shifts occurring in the crypto world:

1. Evolution of values from extraction to feedback: When Pump.fun converts SOL to USDC, LetsBONK actively repurchases BONK, forming a value closed loop. The price of BONK surged by 22% within 24 hours after the platform's feedback policy was announced, becoming the most resilient meme asset in the Solana ecosystem.

2. From Bubble to Flywheel Product Philosophy: LetsBONK has built a multi-layered ecosystem, ranging from the underlying Meme assets to the mid-level utility tokens, and up to the top-level technical solutions, forming a "Meme Traffic Generation - Utility Retention - Technical Breakthrough" three-stage rocket model.

3. The governance revolution from monopoly to co-governance: The closed rule of Pump.fun has led to the emergence of a resistance alliance. Multiple platforms are carving up the market with differentiated strategies, resulting in a significant decline in Pump.fun's share. This decentralized competition is the true return of the Solana spirit.

Future Challenges

Despite LetsBONK making significant progress, its path remains fraught with challenges. The platform coin $LETSBONK has experienced a plunge from a market value of $30 million to $4 million, proving that enthusiasm alone cannot sustain the ecosystem. Meanwhile, Pump.fun has a cash reserve of $600 million and could launch a subsidy war at any time.

This competition is essentially the ultimate game between two routes of crypto-capitalism: one side is the traditional capital path that completely financializes the platform, while the other side emphasizes ecological construction and technological innovation.

When industry leaders declare that "the era of worthless tokens is coming to an end", when the founder of Solana supports BONK, and when LetsBONK's daily trading volume exceeds $86 million, we are witnessing a transformation in the crypto world from extraction to symbiosis, from monopoly to co-governance, and from pure financial games to ecological co-construction.

This is not just a replacement between platforms, but a rebirth of the spirit of cryptocurrency. On the Solana chain, new leaders are rising while the old order is collapsing. This transformation reminds us that in the blockchain world, excessive exploitation will ultimately lead to disruption, and only projects that truly create value for the ecosystem can stand the test of time.