Pump.fun was once the go-to platform for memecoin creators, but not anymore. The viral platform’s dominance as far as Solana memecoin launches are concerned has dropped from over 98% to 57.5%, according to data from Lookonchain and Dune Analytics.
Pump.fun is no longer untouchable, and it now risks fading into obscurity as it has to compete with new platforms like LetsBonk, Believe, and LaunchLab, which now hold market shares of 17.9%, 12.9%, and 5%, respectively.
Pump.fun’s dominance is slipping
According to Dune Analytics, there were 21,836 tokens launched on Pump.fun in the past 24 hours, and only 201 of them graduated. LetsBonk hosted 7,750 newly created tokens, with 136 graduates, while Launchlab saw 1,185 tokens created with only two graduates. Boop lags behind, seeing only 613 tokens created, with only 17 becoming graduates.
As for active addresses, Pump.fun maintains the lead with 139,378 in the last 24 hours, while LetsBonk, Launchlab, and Boop had 33,549, 16,049, and 2684 active addresses, respectively.
Interestingly, all the memes that have attracted massive volume, such as $LAUNCHCOIN, $GOONC, $DUPE, and $Hosico, all launched on either LetsBonk or Believe, a platform that encourages token creation via social media.
The data highlights volume distribution and is proof that Pump.fun’s competitors are gaining ground rapidly, which is not shocking given their respective ties. For instance, LetsBonk is being pushed and supported by Solana maxis and Bonk whales, while Launchlab is supported by Raydium.
Competitors are using incentives to attract degens
When Pump.fun initially burst onto the scene, it pioneered a novel way of creating memes and single-handedly triggered a memecoin season as users created dozens of tokens per day with hopes of going viral.
For many months, Pump.fun had a monopoly on this market and made bank from it, cashing out from transaction fees and drawing criticism for not giving back to the ecosystem. In fact, some argued it was a leech because the team did not even hold Solana and would often convert their gains to stables.
There were complaints, but nobody has actively contested the platform’s monopoly. LetsBonk, Believe, Launchlab and Boopdotfun are just some of the most notable on Solana.
The platforms are claiming market shares by offering creator incentives and community support.
For example, when the $GLONK memecoin was launched on both Pump.fun and LetsBonk, LetsBonk’s founder, SolportTom, reportedly bought 246K $GLONK for $700, and his influence helped push its market cap to a peak of $18M, before it later stabilized at $4M.
Meanwhile Pump.fun’s $GLONK peaked at $15M but subsequently fell to $816K as it did not have the support its counterpart enjoyed on LetsBonk. According to the data, trading volume over 24 hours was $82M on LetsBonk and $56M on Pump.fun.
As if it could tell a storm was brewing on the horizon, Pump.fun announced it would share 50% of trading fees with token creators, its first attempt to give back to the ecosystem, but it may be too late because the act is no longer anything special.
Competitors like LetsBonk also offer creator rewards and even have a competition ongoing, led by SolportTom, who continues to encourage people to create new organic memes on the LetsBonk platform.
The competitive landscape in Solana’s memecoin space is proof that it is maturing. Now, it is no longer enough for a platform to just enable memecoin creation; it must encourage community engagement and provide creator incentives to stand out, or in this case, get ahead of the competition.
