Pump.fun has lost its status as the top meme coin launch platform on Solana for the first time since its explosion, overtaken by the emerging platform LetsBonk.
At first glance, the overall network activity on Solana suggests that the meme coin space is more about restructuring than expansion. The total number of token issuances on the network remains stable, daily trading volumes are on a downward trend, and the number of new accounts created is only about half of what it was at the peak in April.
However, Bitget's Chief Operating Officer Vugar Usi Zade points out that supportive indicators suggest Solana may be on the rise again, driven by the potential expansion of meme coin activity.
"Since LetsBonk really took off, Solana's network activity has noticeably increased. While the gas usage per transaction hasn't skyrocketed, the influx of transactions—especially those from token minting and swapping—has significantly boosted total fees and validator income," he stated.
The rise of LetsBonk on Solana has reignited the enthusiasm of meme coin enthusiasts, who have been gradually cooling off since the peak earlier this year. According to data from decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator Jupiter, on July 9, LetsBonk recorded over 22,000 token mints, compared to Pump.fun's 8,334, capturing over 50% of the market share.
Despite the surge of LetsBonk, the total number of token mints on Solana has remained relatively stable over the past three months. The output from Pump.fun continues to decline, indicating that the revival of meme coins may be more about a shift in platform dominance.
Amberdata senior researcher Michael Marshall explained to Cointelegraph the reasons behind Bonk's lead. "Bonk uses half of its fees to buy and burn BONK tokens, which builds trust and loyalty," Marshall said.
"The simplicity of Bonk and its lower fees have also attracted many new users who previously avoided the complexities and scam issues of Pump.fun."
Aside from token issuance, the total number of transactions on Solana is on a downward trend. However, a closer look reveals a more complex situation. While validator voting transactions have decreased, non-voting transactions related to user activities (such as minting and swapping) are on the rise, primarily driven by the revival of meme coins from LetsBonk.
Marshall noted: "[LetsBonk] has shown significant growth in overall token issuance and trading activity, which directly translates to higher trading volumes on DEXs (like Raydium). Although gas fees remain minimal, overall network traffic and throughput have clearly increased, reflecting the rekindled enthusiasm in the meme coin space."
Raydium is one of the biggest winners. The fees this DEX is now charging have reached levels not seen since the early 2025 meme coin frenzy. In April, LetsBonk partnered with Raydium to provide creators access to the exchange's liquidity pools and trading bots.
According to Coinbase's product lead Conor Grogan, the tokens issued on Pump.fun and LetsBonk are likely primarily operated by bots.
This speculation has long circulated within the Solana ecosystem, as the network's high throughput and low fees make deploying bots for automated token issuance exceptionally easy, achieving speeds beyond human capability.
"Top-ranking accounts mint a new token on average every three minutes," Grogan pointed out on the X platform.
Grogan also specifically mentioned an account he tracked in January that had created over 18,000 tokens on Pump.fun. Initially, the account seemed to operate manually—maintaining a minting rate of about 12 tokens per hour for several months. But eventually, the account's activity was completely taken over by bots.
In a previous interview with Cointelegraph, Austin Federa, then the strategic lead at the Solana Foundation, defended the phenomenon of widespread bot usage on the network. He has since left that position and co-founded a new layer-one protocol called DoubleZero.
Federa emphasized: "Bots also pay fees, and this needs to be clarified. The issue of bot trading always troubles me because no one can really define what they mean by bots. The bots they refer to are often low-value economic operations."
The meme coin and non-fungible token (NFT) communities often overlap, sharing a group of investors well-versed in meme culture who are eager to speculate on digital culture.
The phenomenon of Pump.fun losing its dominance in the meme coin market is quite similar to how OpenSea once dominated NFT trading but was later disrupted by Magic Eden and Blur.
Usi Zade stated, "Bonk is doing something similar to Pump. It's not just about issuing a token—it's about integrating into the meme-native economy. The buy and burn mechanism of BONK provides shared economic benefits for participants."
However, in the NFT space, the rise of alternative markets has not necessarily led to a sustained market recovery.
Usi Zade believes that the meme coin market will not repeat the mistakes of NFTs, firmly believing that meme coins on Solana are "recharging rather than stagnating."
He further added that the chaos surrounding the meme coin industry is gradually cooling from the peak frenzy of early 2025, when Donald Trump-themed tokens and bots drove "absurd" participation metrics. Now, the meme culture on Solana is clearly maturing, showing more structure, coordination, and purpose.
Related: SOL price "bullish chart" targets $300, Solana ETF approval probability as high as 99.7%
Original article: “LetsBonk Overtakes Pump.fun: Is Solana's Meme Coin Really Back?”
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