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Pump.Fun's Removal of $2 Issuance Charge Pushes Daily Fees to All-Time Highs, But Users are Unhappy

The viral application allows anyone to issue a token on the Solana blockchain. It recently dropped a fee it charged for doing so, attracting a spike in complaints as token creation spiked.

Updated Aug 14, 2024, 12:00 p.m. Published Aug 14, 2024, 12:00 p.m.
Pump.fun overtakes Ethereum in revenue (Fikri Rasyid/Unsplash)
Pump.fun overtakes Ethereum in revenue (Fikri Rasyid/Unsplash)
  • Pump.Fun, a Solana-based token generator, set a lifetime record by generating $5.3 million in fees over the past 24 hours, surpassing all other platforms, including blockchains like Ethereum, Tron, and Solana itself.
  • Pump.Fun recently eliminated the $2 fee for token creation, shifting this cost to the first buyer of the token which led to an explosion in token creation and complaints.

Token generator Pump.Fun raked $5.3 million in daily fees, a lifetime record, to become the highest-grossing platform in the crypto market, ahead of more prominent protocols and entire blockchains.

The silver went to Ethereum's staking application Lido which was far behind Pump with a relatively smaller fee of $2.3 million. Blockchains Ethereum, Tron and Solana made less than $1.3 million each, data tracked by DefiLlama shows.

Pump.Fun revenues and fees. (DefiLlama)
Pump.Fun revenues and fees. (DefiLlama)

Pump lets anyone issue a token for around $2 worth of Solana’s SOL in capital, after which they choose the number of tokens, theme, and a meme picture to go along. When the market capitalization of any token reaches $69,000, a portion of liquidity is deposited to the Solana-based exchange Raydium and burned.

Pump Fun homepage. (Pump.Fun)
Pump Fun homepage. (Pump.Fun)

Developers dropped the $2 issuance fee earlier this week – sparking the equivalent of a digital firework of creators. As of Wednesday, the fee is now paid by the first buyer – usually trading bots or an automated service – of any token created on Pump. The creator also now receives 0.5 SOL if the coin completes its bonding curve and is listed on Raydium.

Over 10,000 tokens were created in a single three-hour period on Tuesday, propelling Pump’s revenues to $5 million from under $900,000 on Monday and Tuesday. This bump came after the creator fees were dropped.

Market watchers, however, expressed dismay at the decision.

“Nobody is having fun anymore besides the pump fun team raking in fees,” said @anon_rip in an X post. “How is this a good thing anymore?”

“Not entertaining watching things go to zero in seconds,” said @Vertwashere, referring to the brisk creation of new tokens that plunge in value after initial buying activity in the first few minutes. “Nobody is entertained but ur team and your pockets,” @CookerFlips, another X user, said.

As CoinDesk previously reported, Pump's quick token creation means tens of thousands of tokens have likely been issued since its March launch. However, only a few have reached more than $10 million in market capitalization.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.

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