Pump.fun has mislaid its spot arsenic Solana’s apical memecoin launchpad for the archetypal clip since its breakout, overtaken by rookie level LetsBonk.
At archetypal glance, Solana’s wide web enactment suggests that the memecoin country is much reshuffling than expanding. Total token launches connected the web stay stable, regular transactions are trending downward and the fig of caller accounts created is astir fractional of April’s peak.
However, supporting metrics hint that Solana whitethorn beryllium connected the emergence again, driven by a imaginable enlargement successful memecoin activity, according to Vugar Usi Zade, main operating serviceman of Bitget.
“Since LetsBonk started truly taking off, Solana’s web has lit up. Gas usage per transaction hasn’t skyrocketed, but the sheer flood of transactions — particularly from token mints and swaps — has driven full fees and validator extremity income noticeably higher,” helium said.
Solana’s enactment flatlines, but DEX gross pops down LetsBonk
LetsBonk’s emergence connected Solana has reignited enthusiasm among memecoin fans coming down from highest play earlier this year. On July 9, LetsBonk recorded implicit 22,000 token mints, compared to Pump.fun’s 8,334, capturing much than 50% of the marketplace share, according to information from decentralized speech (DEX) aggregator Jupiter.
Despite LetsBonk’s surge, full token mints connected Solana person remained mostly level implicit the past 3 months. Pump.fun’s output continues to fall, suggesting that the memecoin revival whitethorn beryllium much of a displacement successful level dominance.
Amberdata elder researcher Michael Marshall explained to Cointelegraph wherefore Bonk is pulling ahead. “Bonk uses fractional its fees to bargain and pain BONK tokens, gathering spot and loyalty,” Marshall said.
“Bonk’s simplicity and little fees besides pull galore caller users who avoided Pump.fun’s complexity and scams.”
Related: Pump.fun’s memecoin freak amusement whitethorn effect successful transgression charges: Expert
Outside of token launches, Solana’s full transaction number has been trending down. But a person look reveals a much analyzable picture. While validator ballot transactions person declined, non-vote transactions — those tied to idiosyncratic enactment similar minting and swapping — are connected the rise, mostly driven by LetsBonk’s memecoin resurgence.
“[LetsBonk] has noticeable increases successful wide token launches and trading activity, translating straight into higher transaction volumes connected DEXs similar Raydium. Although state fees stay minimal, wide web postulation and throughput person intelligibly risen, reflecting renewed enthusiasm successful the memecoin space,” said Marshall.
Raydium has been 1 of the biggest winners. The DEX is present collecting fees not seen since the memecoin frenzy of aboriginal 2025. In April, LetsBonk partnered with Raydium to springiness creators entree to the exchange’s liquidity pools and trading bots.
Solana’s bot enactment successful LetsBonk and Pump.fun
According to Conor Grogan, caput of merchandise astatine Coinbase, bots are likely down the bulk of tokens launched connected some Pump.fun and LetsBonk.
This suspicion has agelong circulated successful the Solana ecosystem, wherever the network’s precocious throughput and debased fees marque it casual to deploy bots that automate token launches astatine speeds unattainable by humans.
“The apical accounts launch, connected average, 1 caller token each 3 minutes,” Grogan said connected X.
Related: Bots suspected of pushing Solana implicit Ethereum — Research
Grogan besides pointed to a circumstantial relationship helium tracked successful January, which had created implicit 18,000 tokens connected Pump.fun. Initially, the relationship appeared to beryllium operating manually — launching astir 12 tokens per hr for months. Eventually, the account’s enactment was replaced by bots.
In a erstwhile interview with Cointelegraph Magazine, Austin Federa, past caput of strategy astatine the Solana Foundation, defended the precocious bot usage connected the network. He has since near the relation and co-founded a caller base-layer protocol called DoubleZero.
“Bots wage fees, conscionable to beryllium clear,” Federa said. “The bot transaction question ever truly bugs maine due to the fact that nary 1 tin ever specify what they mean by a bot. What they mean by a bot mostly is things of little economical value.”
“But that is the constituent of a web similar Solana — there’s a batch of worldly that’s not economically viable and not economically imaginable successful the Ethereum ecosystem today.”LetsBonk and memecoins prime up wherever Solana NFTs near off
The memecoin and non-fungible token (NFT) communities often overlap, sharing an assemblage of meme-literate investors speculating connected integer culture.
Pump.fun losing its grip connected the memecoin marketplace draws parallels to however OpenSea erstwhile dominated NFT trading earlier rivals Magic Eden and Blur disrupted its lead.
“Bonk is doing thing akin to Pump. It’s not conscionable astir launching a coin — it’s astir launching into a meme-native economy. The BONK buy-and-burn mechanic gives participants a shared economical stake,” said Usi Zade.
But successful the lawsuit of NFTs, the emergence of alternate marketplaces didn’t needfully pb to a sustained resurgence successful the market.
Usi Zade said helium doesn’t expect the aforesaid result here, arguing that memecoins connected Solana are “reloading, not stagnating.”
“Liquidity hasn’t vanished. Daily DEX measurement is inactive solid. Validator extremity income is growing. And the occurrence of Bonk shows there’s inactive appetite for caller narratives — arsenic agelong arsenic they’re framed right. Even Pump.fun, with each its baggage, continues to churn monolithic volume.”He added that the chaos surrounding the memecoin manufacture is cooling disconnected from the highest euphoria of aboriginal 2025, erstwhile US President Donald Trump-themed tokens and bots drove “absurd” engagement metrics. Now, meme civilization connected Solana appears to beryllium maturing with much structure, coordination and purpose.