In the 2024 blockchain market, the wealth effect of the Meme craze has been the most eye-catching. Meme Launchpads, represented by Pump.fun, launch thousands of projects daily, with some achieving gains of dozens or even hundreds of times in just 24 hours, creating a new wave of wealth myths. However, these projects often follow with a swift freefall, forcing many participants to exit the market with brutal efficiency.

Since Meme coins are entirely community-driven, some refer to them as “Shitcoins,” describing them as simple and crude: starting with a single image and ending with the same image. The concept is easy to understand, with sharp rises and falls that offer a thrilling experience, attracting numerous investors. Due to the zero-sum game nature of this ecosystem, some humorously refer to it as PvP.

This article will briefly introduce the development process of Meme Launchpads, their common technical characteristics, and an overview of 8 representative platforms.

（Image source：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogecoin）

The development process of Meme Launchpad.

Meme coins have long become an inherent part of the crypto market, going through multiple fluctuations alongside the market’s bull and bear cycles. The earliest Meme token can be traced back to the creation of Dogecoin in 2013. Although several altcoin ICO waves followed with similar gameplay to Meme coins, none possessed the unique Meme attributes of Dogecoin. Dogecoin’s influence persisted for years until 2020, when Shiba Inu (SHIB) reignited the Meme token craze, giving rise to a series of animal-themed tokens.

The core of Meme coins lies in their entertainment value—they are not just financial tools but part of internet culture. For players who seek “fun,” Meme coins do not require complex whitepapers or grand project visions; instead, their simple and amusing designs attract the masses. As seen with Dogecoin’s loyal advocate Elon Musk, from 2019 to 2021, just a few tweets from him caused Dogecoin’s price to skyrocket by thousands of times, completely overturning the traditional belief that “Web3 projects must have utility and technical backing to be valuable.” This led people to acknowledge that consensus can be a source of value, and existence itself is justified.

However, early Meme tokens were mostly independently issued, lacking support from a unified platform, resulting in high issuance and trading costs. For example, Dogecoin was an extension of BTC’s technology, utilizing the PoW mining mechanism, while Shiba Inu issued its token using smart contracts on ETH. Such methods of issuing Meme coins still had technical barriers, and people quickly realized that the crypto market needed a platform specifically for Meme token issuance.

In 2023, Pump.fun on the Solana chain emerged, riding the wave of the bull market, and rapidly attracted a large user base, ushering in a new trend of “anyone can issue tokens with one click.” Its success led many to believe that in this round of the bull market, Meme coins’ profitability far surpassed VC-backed tokens. In contrast, VC tokens must reserve large initial shares for the founding teams and venture capital institutions, which are often sold off in bulk once listed on exchanges, causing the token price to plummet and reducing the potential for profit. Meme coin supporters argue that VC-backed projects cannot ensure the “fair play” demand after issuing tokens.

As of August 2024, Pump.fun, with only a 3-person team, has generated over $100 million in cumulative revenue, inspiring other teams to launch similar platforms on different public chains. The most notable and potentially competitive platform against Pump.fun is SunPump, launched by Sun.io. Since its launch in August 2024, SunPump has rapidly energized the Tron chain, driving TRX’s price to a three-year high and spiking gas fees on the Tron network. Almost single-handedly, it has revitalized the entire Tron ecosystem. The following image shows Pump.fun’s daily revenue and cumulative revenue growth trends since its launch in 2024.

（Image source：https://dune.com/adam_tehc/pumpfun）

The development of Meme Launchpad reveals a clear trend: in this highly community-driven and entertainment-focused market, the true winners are not necessarily the projects with complex technology and grand visions, but those innovative platforms that can capture consensus and leverage market sentiment for explosive growth. As more public chains join the fray, Meme coin launch platforms are entering a new era of competition.

The common characteristics of Meme Launchpads

One-click token issuance: Extremely low barriers to entry.

Meme Launchpads simplify the process, allowing anyone to easily issue their own Meme token. Users only need to fill in basic information such as the token name, symbol, description, and image, and pay a small creation fee to complete the token issuance within minutes. This design, with no technical barriers, not only lowers the participation threshold for ordinary users but also greatly stimulates the community’s creativity, enabling everyone to become an “OG.”

Joint Curve: A Fair Automated Pricing Model.

Meme Launchpads typically use a bonding curve pricing mechanism. This automated market maker (AMM) model based on smart contracts allows the token price to increase as the supply grows, and decrease when supply falls. The bonding curve simplifies pricing while avoiding common issues of price manipulation and market control found in traditional ICOs. Additionally, this mechanism eliminates the need for traditional order book trading, enabling an automated price discovery process that ensures all participants trade in a fair environment. For early investors, this means they can purchase tokens at relatively low costs during the initial issuance phase, potentially gaining high returns as demand increases.

Automated liquidity injection: Ensuring smooth transactions.

Meme Launchpads typically provide an automated liquidity injection mechanism for the issued tokens, particularly for initial liquidity. This means that whenever a user creates a new token, the platform automatically injects initial liquidity into a liquidity pool through a smart contract, ensuring that there is sufficient trading depth in the early stages of the token’s release, thus enhancing the user trading experience.

Built-in gamified incentive mechanism.

To stimulate user engagement, some Meme Launchpad platforms have introduced gamified incentive mechanisms. For example, they reward active users through task systems or leaderboards, increasing the platform’s interactivity. This mechanism not only encourages user participation in token issuance and trading but also helps the platform maintain long-term community activity, enhancing the entertainment and social aspects of the Meme economy.

Current top 8 Meme launch platforms.

Pump.Fun

Public Chains: Solana, Blast

Start Date: January 2024

Recent 24-Hour Launch Volume: 4,677 (can stabilize over 10,000 during good market conditions)

Graduation Rate: 1.29% (as of August 1, 2024)

Features: Currently the undisputed leader, with other platforms in the market serving as imitators. The launch volume accounts for 30% to 40% of the Solana chain. Since August, issuers no longer need to pay the $2 creation fee, enabling zero-cost token issuance.

Website: https://pump.fun/board

MakeNowMeme

Public Chain: Solana

Start Date: January 2024

Features: Allows automatic token issuance by tweeting on X, heavily reliant on KOL (Key Opinion Leader) promotion, and was temporarily banned on X.

Website:https://makenow.meme/

MoonShot

Public Chain: Solana

Start Date: June 2024

Features: Backed by DEX Screener. Initially made some impact on PumpFun. The website has a design style resembling a more serious forum.

Website: https://dexscreener.com/moonshot

MemeHub.AI

Public Chain: BNB, soon to support Base/ETH/Blast/Ton

Start Date: July 2024

Features: Backed by Binance, AI-assisted token issuance allows users to generate names, logos, descriptions, and posters with just a sentence or keyword. Tokens can be traded without providing liquidity. The website interface resembles a simplified version of X.

Website: https://memehub.ai/

SunPump

Public Chain: TRON

Start Date: August 2024

Features: Supported by Justin Sun, or as he prefers to be called, “H.E. Mr. Justin Sun.” The platform has recently seen extensive PR promotion online. Sun provides liquidity support and Gas fee discounts.

Website: https://sun.io/

Trugly.Meme

Public Chain: Base

Start Date: May 2024

Features: Allows anyone to create a memecoin for any Twitter account, but only the corresponding account owner can claim it. Once claimed, 80% of the transaction fees are transferred to the account owner. It uses the MEME404 token standard, allowing holders to display token balances through NFTs, thereby creating a tiered system.

Website: https://www.trugly.meme/

Satspump.fun

Public Chain: BTC

Start Date: September 2024 (estimated)

Features: Satspump.fun is a memecoin issuance platform on Bitcoin’s extended network, Fractal Bitcoin. The Fractal Bitcoin mainnet is not yet live, but is expected to launch in September 2024.

Website: https://satspump.fun/

We.Rich

Public Chain: Base

Start Date: July 2024

Features: UGA platform with a focus on social attributes, allowing anyone to issue a memecoin without needing liquidity provision (LP).

Website:https://we.rich/

Conclusion

Currently, numerous Pump.fun clones are emerging across major blockchains, with some chains already hosting multiple similar platforms. This indicates that the attention and traffic towards memecoins are becoming increasingly fragmented. When traffic growth stalls, the zero-sum PvP model struggles to sustain the profit-making effect, signaling that this current memecoin frenzy may be approaching its growth limit.

We must remain aware that the prosperity of the memecoin market comes with significant risks. High returns are always accompanied by high risks, and behind the myth of sudden wealth lies the heavy losses of many investors.

However, the unique culture of the crypto community ensures that memes never truly fade away. Even when the current frenzy subsides, there will always be another round of excitement waiting to begin. The meme feast is merely on pause, not over.

On reflection, we may conclude that Bitcoin (BTC) is essentially the earliest memecoin—and it is likely to remain the most enduring one.