Are Solana Memecoins Back for Good? LetsBonk Overtakes Pump.fun

Pump.fun has lost its spot as Solana’s top memecoin launchpad for the first time since its breakout, overtaken by rookie platform LetsBonk.

At first glance, Solana’s overall network activity suggests that the memecoin scene is more reshuffling than expanding. Total token launches on the network remain stable, daily transactions are trending downward and the number of new accounts created is roughly half of April’s peak.

However, supporting metrics hint that Solana may be on the rise again, driven by a potential expansion in memecoin activity, according to Vugar Usi Zade, chief operating officer of Bitget.

“Since LetsBonk started really taking off, Solana’s network has lit up. Gas usage per transaction hasn’t skyrocketed, but the sheer flood of transactions — especially from token mints and swaps — has driven total fees and validator tip income noticeably higher,” he said.

Solana’s activity flatlines, but DEX revenue pops behind LetsBonk

LetsBonk’s rise on Solana has reignited enthusiasm among memecoin fans coming down from peak season earlier this year. On July 9, LetsBonk recorded over 22,000 token mints, compared to Pump.fun’s 8,334, capturing more than 50% of the market share, according to data from decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator Jupiter.

Despite LetsBonk’s surge, total token mints on Solana have remained largely flat over the past three months. Pump.fun’s output continues to fall, suggesting that the memecoin revival may be more of a shift in platform dominance.

Amberdata senior researcher Michael Marshall explained to Cointelegraph why Bonk is pulling ahead. “Bonk uses half its fees to buy and burn BONK tokens, building trust and loyalty,” Marshall said.

“Bonk’s simplicity and lower fees also attract many new users who avoided Pump.fun’s complexity and scams.”

Related: Pump.fun’s memecoin freak show may result in criminal charges: Expert

Outside of token launches, Solana’s total transaction count has been trending down. But a closer look reveals a more complex picture. While validator vote transactions have declined, non-vote transactions — those tied to user activity like minting and swapping — are on the rise, largely driven by LetsBonk’s memecoin resurgence.

“[LetsBonk] has noticeable increases in overall token launches and trading activity, translating directly into higher transaction volumes on DEXs like Raydium. Although gas fees remain minimal, overall network traffic and throughput have clearly risen, reflecting renewed enthusiasm in the memecoin space,” said Marshall.

Raydium has been one of the biggest winners. The DEX is now collecting fees not seen since the memecoin frenzy of early 2025. In April, LetsBonk partnered with Raydium to give creators access to the exchange’s liquidity pools and trading bots.

Solana’s bot activity in LetsBonk and Pump.fun

According to Conor Grogan, head of product at Coinbase, bots are likely behind the majority of tokens launched on both Pump.fun and LetsBonk.

This suspicion has long circulated in the Solana ecosystem, where the network’s high throughput and low fees make it easy to deploy bots that automate token launches at speeds unattainable by humans.

“The top accounts launch, on average, one new token every three minutes,” Grogan said on X.

Related: Bots suspected of pushing Solana over Ethereum — Research

Grogan also pointed to a specific account he tracked in January, which had created over 18,000 tokens on Pump.fun. Initially, the account appeared to be operating manually — launching roughly 12 tokens per hour for months. Eventually, the account’s activity was replaced by bots.

In a previous interview with Cointelegraph Magazine, Austin Federa, then head of strategy at the Solana Foundation, defended the high bot usage on the network. He has since left the role and co-founded a new base-layer protocol called DoubleZero.

“Bots pay fees, just to be clear,” Federa said. “The bot transaction question always really bugs me because no one can ever define what they mean by a bot. What they mean by a bot generally is things of lower economic value.” 

“But that is the point of a network like Solana — there’s a lot of stuff that’s not economically viable and not economically possible in the Ethereum ecosystem today.”

LetsBonk and memecoins pick up where Solana NFTs left off

The memecoin and non-fungible token (NFT) communities often overlap, sharing an audience of meme-literate investors speculating on digital culture.

Pump.fun losing its grip on the memecoin market draws parallels to how OpenSea once dominated NFT trading before rivals Magic Eden and Blur disrupted its lead.

“Bonk is doing something similar to Pump. It’s not just about launching a coin — it’s about launching into a meme-native economy. The BONK buy-and-burn mechanic gives participants a shared economic stake,” said Usi Zade.

But in the case of NFTs, the rise of alternative marketplaces didn’t necessarily lead to a sustained resurgence in the market.

Usi Zade said he doesn’t expect the same outcome here, arguing that memecoins on Solana are “reloading, not stagnating.”

“Liquidity hasn’t vanished. Daily DEX volume is still solid. Validator tip income is growing. And the success of Bonk shows there’s still appetite for new narratives — as long as they’re framed right. Even Pump.fun, with all its baggage, continues to churn massive volume.”

He added that the chaos surrounding the memecoin industry is cooling off from the peak euphoria of early 2025, when US President Donald Trump-themed tokens and bots drove “absurd” engagement metrics. Now, meme culture on Solana appears to be maturing with more structure, coordination and purpose.

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