Solana Meme Coin Launchpad Pump.fun Debuts PumpSwap Exchange

Popular Solana token launchpad Pump.fun has deployed its own decentralized exchange (DEX), PumpSwap, which is set to rival the likes of Raydium—the protocol it previously migrated meme coins to once they’d reached a certain value threshold.

The launch is designed to improve the token migration experience, Pump.fun said, as well as create the possibility for the launchpad to share project revenue with coin creators within the coming weeks.

This debut of PumpSwap comes a month after rumors swirled that Pump.fun was set to create its own automated market maker (AMM), causing Raydium’s RAY token to drop. Earlier this week, Blockworks reported that Raydium plans to deploy its own token launchpad amid the shakeup.

PumpSwap aims to significantly reduce the time it takes for a token on Pump.fun to migrate, cut migration fees down from 6 SOL to nothing, provide more liquidity for created coins, and build a path for a “creator revenue sharing” model to be implemented in the future.

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

In its current state, when a token on Pump.fun reaches a market cap of $100,000, it begins to migrate to be tradable on Raydium—a popular platform for Solana token trading. Sometimes this process could take minutes, but in some fringe cases, it can take hours. PumpSwap removes the need for this entirely.

Pump.fun has faced criticism over the amount of revenue that it has generated, totalling $600 million since its January 2024 launch according to Dune data. It appears the DEX will open the door to a percentage of the protocol’s revenue being fed back to coin creators.

While no official date has been set for this revenue sharing model, a source familiar with the matter said that it should be implemented within weeks rather than months.

On launch, some major tokens like Pudgy Penguins’ PENGU, the USDC stablecoin, and Jupiter’s JUP are available to trade, as well as Pump.fun tokens, of course. However, tokens that aren’t from “listed partners” or that weren’t created on Pump.fun must have a liquidity pool created to enable trading.

“It’s the launchpad’s choice whether they want their coins to migrate to PumpSwap, and we’re more than happy to partner with launchpads looking to tap into Pump’s diverse user base,”  Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen told Decrypt.

Alongside the launch, Pump.fun announced that it will be hosting an audit competition for the exchange, with $2 million up for grabs. The platform has already passed nine security audits, the team said.

Last year, Pump.fun suffered an attack from a disgruntled employee that abused his power to drain the protocol of an estimated $2 million. Jarett Dunn (aka Stacc) said that he wanted to “kill” the platform because it had “inadvertently hurt people for a long time.” The attacker pleaded guilty to related charges in the UK, but is looking to withdraw this plea next week.

In reaction to the news, Raydium’s RAY token tanked 7.6% over the five minutes following the PumpSwap announcement. It’s now down nearly 9% on the day at a current price of $1.65, according to DEX Screener.

Now, with Pump.fun’s decentralized exchange plans officially confirmed and Raydium reportedly plotting its own token launchpad, these one-time allies now appear to be heated rivals.

“We welcome competition,” Cohen told Decrypt, “because users win at the end of the day.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward