What Is Pump.fun and How Does It Work?
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Pump.fun is a Solana-based protocol that allows anyone to create meme coins without technical knowledge. The platform also serves as a marketplace for the millions of meme coins that have been minted on it.
Investors can simply select a coin they like, purchase it at the displayed price determined by the bonding curve algorithm, and sell it to lock in profits or losses.
Creators can mint new meme coins within seconds by setting parameters like name, ticker, and branding. However, they cannot implement an elaborate tokenomics model, as all tokens on Pump.fun follow a bonding curve model, which we’ll discuss shortly.
After launching new tokens, users expect these to ‘graduate,’ i.e., reach a certain market cap threshold and get listed on a decentralized exchange (DEX) like Raydium.
So, are you a meme coin enthusiast eager to learn how Pump.fun works? This article explains what Pump.fun is, how it benefits meme coin creators and investors, and how it impacts the meme coin space.
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Key Takeaways
- Pump.fun is the largest Solana launchpad platform to create and deploy meme coins.
- So far, more than 13.7 million meme coins have been created on Pump.fun, generating over $800 million in revenue.
- The vast majority of tokens created on Pump.fun have failed due to the low entry barriers.
What is Pump.fun?
Pump.fun is a meme coin hub on the Solana chain. Before going any further, it’s worth noting that Solana is one of the best chains for low-cap meme coins thanks to its high speed and ultra-low transaction fees.
Solana has the highest transaction count among all major chains, processing over 250 million transactions per day. Its superior performance enables Pump.fun and other top crypto launchpads to ensure seamless token creation and trading. If it were built on Ethereum, it likely wouldn’t achieve the same level of popularity and success.
Pump.fun offers a beginner-friendly interface where you can launch a meme coin within seconds. No coding knowledge is needed — you can focus on creativity.
Some of the best meme coins, including Fartcoin, Peanut the Squirrel, and Moo Deng, were created within seconds on Pump.fun.
The platform was launched at the beginning of 2024 by Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen, and Dylan Kerler, although the founders have remained quite discreet. Besides their nicknames on X, we know very little about them.
Alon briefly shared Pump.fun’s mission via X:
“My ultimate goal is for pump dot fun to be the most fun place on the internet. If I don’t achieve this, then I have failed.”
Considering Pump.fun’s explosive growth in 2024-2025 across key metrics, it’s fair to agree that Alon’s goal has been achieved, at least partially.
Today, Pump.fun remains a meme coin factory, with users creating over 16,000 new tokens per day as of November 2025. In total, over 13.7 million meme coins were created through this platform.
Pump.fun accounts for nearly 94% of all meme coins deployed on Solana and over 98% of all token “graduates.” This absolute dominance has consolidated over the past three months, as the platform recovered from an earlier setback.
On average, more than 100,000 addresses interact with Pump.fun daily, generating a trading volume between $60 million and $250 million.
The platform appeals to users thanks to its token creation tool, its flagship feature. Users can mint new tokens simply by setting a name, ticker, and uploading an image. Token prices follow a fixed bonding curve model, increasing automatically as more buyers join. Launching a meme coin comes with zero upfront costs.
When a token hits a certain market cap threshold, it “graduates” and gets listed on Solana DEXs like Raydium.
Creators can promote their tokens via live chat and other influencer shill tools to increase visibility.
What is the PUMP Token?
The Pump.fun ecosystem is fueled by the native PUMP token, which was launched in July 2025 on Solana. Currently, the token is priced at December 21, 2025, losing -48.25% over the past year. Still, its $2.80B valuation keeps it ranked 54th on CoinMarketCap by market capitalization.
The token’s main goal is to incentivize growth. PUMP is mainly used to reduce fees and reward active participants and successful meme coin creators.
The token came at a moment when the platform was facing serious competition and losing market share. In mid-July, the PUMP initial coin offering (ICO) sold out in just 12 minutes, securing an impressive $600 million by selling 15% of its 1 trillion token supply.
During the token sale, Pump.fun said on X that its mission was to “Kill Facebook, TikTok, and Twitch…On Solana.”
The token’s 1 trillion supply is allocated as follows:
- 33% (330 billion) for ICO, of which 18% of tokens were reserved for private sales and 15% for the public sale, which concluded on July 12. Both groups paid $0.004 per token.
- 24% (240 billion) for community and ecosystem initiatives like grants and partnerships.
- 20% (200 billion) for the core team.
- 13% (130 billion) for early investors.
- 2.6% (26 billion) for liquidity and exchange purposes.
- 3% (30 billion) for the livestreaming infrastructure.
- 2.4% (24 billion) for the broader ecosystem fund.
- 2% (20 billion) for the pump.fun foundation.
How Does Pump.fun Work?
Pump.fun offers an interface to create meme coins from scratch with a few clicks.
Here is how it works:
- Step 1: You can mint your brand new meme coin on the “create” page, but first, you should either connect a Solana wallet like Phantom or create a new account by signing up with your email.
- Step 2: Once connected, you can enter the coin details, including the coin name, ticker, a brief description, and an image representing it. You can also add your social links, though this step is optional. Note that you won’t be able to make any changes afterward.
There is a preview mode to see how your coin will look.
- Step 3: Once you are ready, click on “Create Coin.” You will be asked to buy a small amount of your newly created coins to protect from sniping bots, but this step is optional. Just click on “Create Coin” again, and your coin is ready.
Congrats! Now you have your first meme coin.
- Step 4: The token is now ready for trade on the internal platform. All new meme coins currently have a market cap of $4,900 and are priced at $0.00000492 based on the bonding curve formula. You can buy your own coin to boost its price if you believe in it. If your coin’s market cap reaches $73,000, it can be listed on a DEX like Raydium or PumpSwap, a milestone known as “graduation.”
As mentioned, all coins follow a bonding curve, which is a mathematical function that links the token’s price to its supply. This is because there are no liquidity pools like in traditional DEXs. According to this formula, when more people buy, the token price rises along the curve. Similarly, when people sell, the price drops along the same curve.
Note that all coins are traded against SOL, so users should monitor SOL’s price as well.
For investors, the trading experience on Pump.fun is straightforward as well. You can pick any token you like and buy it with SOL.
The platform also provides its native PumpSwap DEX for graduated tokens.
Ticker, Token Naming, and Branding
Pump.fun doesn’t require you to be familiar with coding or tokenomics. Instead, you should unleash your creativity with the token name, ticker, and image.
So, what does ticker mean on Pump.fun?
It’s the short symbol representing a coin, such as BTC, SOL, or DOGE. The platform doesn’t allow duplicate tickers and names. Even if you manage to create a duplicate name or ticker, the coin may not eventually show up on the platform.
Pump.fun has an NSFW filter to hide inappropriate names and tickers, and doesn’t allow tokens that are considered hate speech or use intellectual property.
To avoid issues with your ticker, make sure it’s catchy, easy to memorize, and compliant with Pump.fun’s rules.
Revenue Model, Fees, and Economics
In August 2025, Pump.fun removed its token creation fee, so there is no upfront payment to mint a new meme coin on Solana. Instead, the first buyer of a token pays a small cost (~0.02 SOL) when purchasing the token at launch.
During the bonding curve phase, the platform charges a 1.25% fee on all trades, which is split between the token creator and the platform itself (0.3% goes to the creator and 0.95% to Pump.fun).
After graduation, fees vary by market cap, with creators earning up to 0.95% of each trade for small-cap coins. This dynamic fee model was introduced during the Project Ascend upgrade in September 2025.
DefiLlama data shows that the platform has generated over $800 million in revenue since its launch. Revenue hit a record peak in January 2025, when daily figures crossed the $6 million mark.
The Pump.fun fee model is essential because the value of its PUMP token is supported by buybacks using the platform’s revenue from fees. Following the Project Ascend upgrade, nearly 100% of all revenue is allocated to purchasing PUMP.
For example, the platform bought over $1 million worth of PUMP on multiple days in a row in October and November 2025. In total, the value of PUMP purchased via buybacks crossed $160 million, offsetting 10% of the total supply.
This deflationary mechanism creates value for the PUMP token, although it couldn’t prevent its ongoing bearish pressure throughout most of 2025.
User Experience: What is Using Pump.fun Like?
Using Pump.fun is fairly simple, as the platform targets “degen” crypto investors who prioritize speculation and speed.
You can really generate your own meme coin within a few seconds. Pump.fun is a meme coin creation machine that has changed the game.
While you don’t need a wallet to create new coins, it’s best to set up Phantom to be able to buy on the platform or on Solana DEXs. Phantom is a MetaMask-like wallet that comes as a browser extension and is easy to install. It is one of the best meme coin wallets.
With millions of new meme coins being created, the only factors that make a difference are token discoverability and marketing efforts. Most new tokens gain traction through X posts and livestreams. Pump.fun marketing relies very much on livestreams, which can be hosted directly from the platform.
The competition is fierce, though. Only a small fraction of tokens succeed, as most of them receive no visibility whatsoever. Bots also dominate early trades, hunting for upside potential. The best thing is to have a social media presence for your tokens to succeed.
What Are the Risks and Downsides of Pump.fun?
It’s no surprise that the low effort required to create a new meme coin leads to a high number of irrelevant projects. In fact, according to a May 2025 report from Solidus Labs, 98% of all tokens on the platform are rug pulls or scam projects.
Even though Pump.fun itself remains a relatively safe venue, it’s full of pump-and-dump schemes and irrelevant meme coins that no one will ever hear about. Therefore, crypto investors should not treat it as a gold mine. On the contrary, even tokens with some traction are highly risky due to the extreme volatility and speculative nature.
The platform itself has faced security and regulatory issues.
In May 2024, Pump.fun was attacked by an exploiter who used flash loans to buy out the bonding curve. Trading was paused, and the contracts were updated to keep users protected.
Meanwhile, Pump.fun is the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case alleges that it operated as an “unlicensed casino” and sold tokens that qualify as unregistered securities, which is illegal in the U.S.
The lawsuit was expanded in July 2025 to include Jito, Solana, and some of their top executives, including Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal.
Pump.fun Alternatives and Competitors
Pump.fun has been dominating Solana’s meme coin ecosystem from day one. Still, at one point, it faced serious competition from BONK.fun (also known as LetsBonk.fun), a meme coin launchpad part of the BONK ecosystem.
BONK is one of the best Solana meme coins, having a market cap of $1.71B. Its launchpad made waves in the summer of 2025, when it accounted for the majority of new meme coins created and graduated to Solana DEXs.
The main difference between the two is that Pump.fun is a standalone platform, while BONK.fun offers deeper integration into the Bonk ecosystem. It also focuses on community incentives and offers more advanced features for creators.
Other competitors, such as Moonshot and LaunchLab, offer more customization and advanced features, allowing users to design vesting and flexible curve models.
However, users still prefer simplicity instead, which is why Pump.fun continues to kill the competition despite its limited features.
All in all, if you seek simplicity and speed, go with Pump.fun. If you aim for community backing and more generous incentives, BONK.fun might be a better option. Meanwhile, if you’re a project developer looking for custom tokenomics, try Moonshot or LaunchLab.
Pump.fun Future Outlook
Pump.fun doesn’t have a formal roadmap, but it continually improves its infrastructure. For example, the latest upgrade introduced dynamic fees for trades, boosting creator revenue.
At the end of October 2025, it shared some hints about its future, the main highlight being the upcoming support for utility tokens alongside meme coins.
“Utility token projects are an incredibly important vertical that we will be focusing on moving forward, and we will succeed by taking as many things off of teams’ plates as possible so they can focus on building their products.”
The platform already accepts applications from utility token developers, offering support for genuine projects with upside potential.
Pump.fun benefits from its first-mover position. If it introduces governance features for its native token and expands to other chains, it could remain a major player in the meme coin and broader crypto space.
Final Thoughts on Pump.fun
Pump.fun is the most popular meme coin launchpad on Solana. Users prefer it for its intuitive interface that allows you to create meme coins within seconds, ultra-low fees, built-in marketing infrastructure, and simple pricing model.
If you prefer speed and simplicity, then this meme coin factory is right for you. However, its low barrier to entry leaves the door wide open for scams and rug pulls. This is reflected by the high token failure rate. Therefore, if you’re an investor, you must do your homework before spending any SOL to buy meme coins there.
You can think of it as a meme coin casino where marketing and timing make all the difference. Your main safety net? Due diligence.
Learn about other Solana launchpadsFAQs
Is Pump.fun a meme coin or platform?
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References
- Pump.fun Tokens Created (Gryphsis Academy via Dune)
- Daily Launchpad Volume (adam_tech via Dune)
- Pump.fun Revenue Chart (DefiLlama)
- Pump.fun Revenue and Purchases Chart (Pump.fun)
- Solana Daily Tokens Deployed (adam_tech via Dune)
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