Pump.fun Launches PumpSwap DEX, Moves Away from Raydium

Pump.fun, a popular platform for Solana-based memecoins, has launched its own decentralized exchange (DEX) named PumpSwap. This move could potentially replace Raydium as the primary trading venue for Solana (SOL) memecoins.

Instant Migration and Reduced Friction

Starting March 20, memecoins that successfully bootstrap liquidity (“bond”) on Pump.fun will migrate directly to PumpSwap instead of Raydium. Previously, bonded tokens moved to Raydium, which had become Solana’s leading DEX largely due to memecoin trading.

Pump.fun stated that PumpSwap operates similarly to Raydium V4 and Uniswap V2, aiming to create a frictionless trading environment. The platform highlighted that migrations previously caused unnecessary complexity and slowed momentum, but now migrations will occur instantly and free of charge.

Increasing Competition in Solana’s Memecoin Market

This launch follows Raydium’s recent announcement of its own memecoin launchpad, LaunchLab, designed to compete directly with Pump.fun. The shift from partnership to competition between Pump.fun and Raydium could significantly reshape Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape.

“We welcome competition because users win at the end of the day,” said Alon, a co-founder of Pump.fun.

Other emerging platforms, including Daos.fun, GoFundMeme, and Pumpkin, are also competing for market share. PumpSwap plans to adopt revenue-sharing features similar to GoFundMeme, allocating a percentage of protocol revenue to memecoin creators to incentivize higher-quality launches.

Declining Memecoin Activity

Despite these developments, memecoin activity on Solana has significantly declined since January. Successful memecoin launches on Pump.fun dropped by approximately 80%, and daily fee revenues fell from over $4 million in January to around $1 million by mid-March.

Memecoins had previously driven explosive growth on Solana in 2024, boosting the chain’s total value locked (TVL) from $1.4 billion to over $9 billion. Raydium benefited greatly, with daily trading volumes rising from $245 million to over $2 billion during the same period.

Quick Summary

• Pump.fun launches PumpSwap DEX, moving away from Raydium.
• Instant and free migration of bonded memecoins to PumpSwap.
• Heightened competition in Solana’s memecoin market.
• Declining memecoin activity and revenues since January.
• PumpSwap to introduce revenue-sharing with memecoin creators.