Solana on-chain memes Launchpad market landscape undergoes a major change

"The king is dead, long live the king." This ancient declaration reveals an eternal truth: power never belongs to anyone; it flows like water, always seeking new containers. This truth applies not only to ancient courts but is equally relevant in today's cryptocurrency world.

The Launchpad market for memes on the Solana blockchain is staging a modern version of this ancient ritual. The once-dominant Pump.fun, which held 88% of the market share just a month ago, now only has 13%, while the new challenger Let'sBONK has claimed 86% of the territory. This is not just another manifestation of the "volatility" in the crypto world, but a textbook case of an empire's collapse: when you forget that attention is the ultimate moat, even the largest first-mover advantage can vanish in an instant.

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The Rise and Fall of the Pump.fun Empire

Pump.fun was launched in January 2024 by three young people in their 20s, and it revolutionized the issuance logic of memes with a single sentence: "You upload a picture, give it a name, click a few times, and you can issue a coin, costing less than $2, without any code." It satisfies a fundamental impulse: to turn something that is "nothing" into something "with a bit of value." By January 2025, Pump.fun had generated over $458 million in revenue, with thousands of new coins launched daily, peaking at a daily income of over $7 million.

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However, the tragedy of Pump.fun began with one of its most "innovative" features: live streaming. In order to gain attention, some users engaged in extreme behavior during the live streams, forcing the platform to urgently shut down the live streaming feature. This incident severely damaged Pump.fun's reputation, and the revenue for that week plummeted by 66%.

Facing declining revenue and competitive pressure, Pump.fun decided to save itself through an ICO. Technically, this ICO was successful, raising $500 million in 12 minutes, plus $700 million in private placement. However, there were issues with the token distribution and unlocking mechanism, leading to a rapid decline of 60% in the token price after an initial surge.

The final blow came when co-founder Alon Cohen publicly announced that the long-promised airdrop "will not happen in the foreseeable future." This statement emerged at a time when community trust was at its most fragile, resulting in a 15% drop in token prices within 24 hours.

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The Rise of Let'sBONK

When Pump.fun is in trouble, Let'sBONK is quietly building everything that its competitors lack: transparency, community orientation, and clear communication. Currently, Let'sBONK's daily revenue has reached $1.3 million, while Pump.fun is only at $254,000. Let'sBONK's revenue has grown from nearly zero in May to a stable daily income of over $1 million in July, steadily rising all the way.

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Let'sBONK will use 1% of its weekly revenue to repurchase BONK tokens, supporting this ecosystem token that predates the platform and has a solid foundation. In contrast, the PUMP token has lost 60% of its market value since its ICO.

The Victory and Defeat of Attention Economy

Pump.fun once gained an advantage through network effects, but attention is fragile. Once trust collapses, user mindset can disintegrate in an instant. Let'sBONK seizes the opportunity to become a "clean" choice, a platform without historical baggage.

Pump.fun attempts to turn the situation around by increasing the token buyback ratio and launching incentive programs, but these tactical measures cannot address the strategic issues. Let'sBONK, on the other hand, has built an ecological reward system that is truly linked to user interests, including mechanisms such as staking rewards and "Bonk points."

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A Bigger Picture

In the digital market, a dominant position can vanish in a matter of months. The collapse of Pump.fun's reputation has led to a survival crisis, while Let'sBONK has entered the market at the right time.

Despite a significant shrink in market share, Pump.fun has not exited the scene. They have $1.2 billion in funding as a buffer, generating over $250,000 in revenue daily. The recently launched Pump.fun 2.0 has introduced new features, showing that they are still striving to fight back.

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The most likely scenario is market fragmentation, with Let'sBONK becoming the main platform, while Pump.fun transforms into a niche platform with loyal users. However, to truly turn the situation around, Pump.fun must rebuild trust and reclaim cultural dominance, which may require a complete overhaul of its leadership.

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In this modern power transition, we again see the power of ancient wisdom: when a ruler loses legitimacy, only a new leader can win the old respect. To continue the "kingdom", sometimes the crown must be passed to newcomers.

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