Pump.fun launches its own decentralized exchange (DEX) called PumpSwap, potentially displacing Raydium

Starting on March 20, memecoins that successfully bootstrap liquidity, or “bond,” on Pump.fun will migrate directly to PumpSwap

Pump.fun, the popular Solana memecoin launchpad, has launched its own decentralized exchange (DEX).

Called PumpSwap, the DEX will handle trading of memecoins that successfully bootstrap liquidity, or “bond,” on Pump.fun.

“PumpSwap functions similarly to Raydium V4 & Uniswap V2 and is designed to create the most frictionless environment for trading coins,” Pump.fun said.

“Migrations were a major point of friction - they slow a coin’s momentum and introduce needless complexity for new users. Now, migrations happen instantly and for free.”

The launch comes just a few days after Raydium tipped plans to create its own memecoin launchpad - called LaunchLab - to directly compete with Pump.fun.

Pump.fun and Raydium’s transition from partners to competitors stands to reshape Solana’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem at a time when memecoin trading volumes are down dramatically from January highs.

“We welcome competition because users win at the end of the day,” Alon, one of Pump.fun’s co-founders said.

Other upstart protocols - such as Daos.fun, GoFundMeme and Pumpkin - are also vying for a share of Solana’s memecoin market.

PumpSwap plans to adopt one of rival GoFundMeme’s most popular features - revenue sharing with memecoin creators.

“Soon, a percentage of protocol revenue will be shared with coin creators,” Pump.fun said.

“If it succeeds, millions of dollars will go towards aligning creators with their communities and incentivizing higher quality launches.”

On Feb. 27, Cointelegraph reported that successful memecoin launches on Pump.fun were down some 80% from January highs after a series of memecoin-related scandals cooled sentiment among retail traders.

As a result, Pump.fun’s average daily fee revenue declined from more than $4 million in January to just over $100,000 as of mid-March, according to data from Dune Analytics.

Memecoins drove explosive growth on Solana in 2024, with the chain’s total value locked (TVL) increasing from around $1.4 billion to more than $9 billion that year, according to DefiLlama.

Raydium was among the biggest beneficiaries, with daily volumes surging from around $245 million to more than $2 billion over the course of 2024, DefiLlama data shows.

In January, Raydium launched a leveraged perpetual futures trading platform in a bid to challenge incumbent Jupiter, another top Solana DeFi protocol.