Pump.fun, the Solana token launchpad platform, generated $18.6 million in protocol revenue over the seven days through October 7, even as research firm Talos found that 81% of tracked memecoins had fallen at least 90% from their all-time highs.
The revenue came from $52.5 million in total trading fees paid by users during the same period. Over 30 days ending October 7, Pump.fun accumulated $184.5 million in fees and $60.7 million in protocol revenue, according to data from DefiLlama.
Talos examined 150 memecoins for survival analysis and 151 for return comparisons, all of which had achieved pricing on at least one centralized exchange. The research found a median of 17 days between when exchange trading began and when tokens peaked. From that peak, the median time to a 95% collapse was approximately 370 days. Only 5 coins in the 151-coin sample remained above their first-day price.
Two-thirds of Solana-era memecoins never staged a meaningful second rally after their initial decline, according to Talos. Just 7% of addresses held $1 or more in balances as a share of peak addresses, indicating severe concentration loss across the ecosystem.
Fee Distribution and Token Mechanics
Pump.fun’s fee structure distributes portions of trading income among the protocol, token creators, and liquidity-related recipients. In the 24-hour period tracked, the platform distributed $4.46 million in total rewards to 140,000 users. Holder Rewards accounted for $730,000, while Callout Rewards reached $330,000. Creator fees totaled $3.4 million in that same window.
The PUMP token, Pump.fun’s native asset, has exposure to platform activity through a buyback and burn commitment that began in April and runs for one year. Over seven days through October 7, $8.45 million in PUMP was burned. Over 30 days, that figure reached $27.29 million.
Holder Rewards do not automatically reach every person holding a Pump-launched asset. A holder can receive distributions and still lose money if the underlying coin’s value falls faster than rewards accumulate.
Platform Economics and User Payouts
Alon Cohen, Pump.fun co-founder, stated: “In time, Pumpfun will vastly outperform the social media industry in user payouts and rewards.”
Platform revenue depends on transactions occurring across the ecosystem and does not require older tokens to recover in value. Pump.fun claims it is widening the share of platform economics reaching users, with distributions increasingly reaching users rather than being retained at the protocol level.
Talos’ analysis selected for relatively successful tokens by requiring pricing availability on at least one centralized exchange, which may understate failure rates across the broader universe of launchpad coins that never achieve exchange listing.
