Trading volume on Pump.fun, a leading Solana-based token launchpad, plunged 63% in February following a string of high-profile memecoin scams that have eroded investor confidence.
Pump.fun volume dropped from $119 billion in January to $44 billion in February, the lowest since October 2024, according to data from a Dune Analytics dashboard. Pump.fun’s new token launches have also drastically decreased, going from 58,000 each day at the beginning of February to 24,000 by Mar. 4.
Furthermore, the platform’s token graduation rate has decreased from 1.85% to 0.83% per week, meaning that fewer tokens are reaching the $100,000 market valuation required to be listed on Raydium.
Despite February’s trading volume being the lowest since October 2024, It generated $74 million in revenue over the past 30 days. The platform’s total fees have reached $580 million and 8.2 million tokens launched to date.
Among other high profile memecoin scandals like TRUMP and MELANIA, the LIBRA memecoin scandal was a major turning point. In mid-February, Argentine President Javier Milei endorsed LIBRA memecoin, causing a price surge before a sudden crash wiped out over $120 million, leading to accusations of a rug pull.
The incident damaged trust in memecoins, accelerating the market downturn. Pump.fun has been trying to improve its features to draw in more developers and traders. Along with recently releasing a mobile app, the platform has teased plans for a native automated market maker.
An AMM is a decentralized trading system that makes use of liquidity pools in place of conventional order books. Integrating an AMM could help Pump.fun facilitate token trading natively and boost liquidity.
Despite the challenges faced by Pump.fun, Solana’s (SOL) decentralized exchanges continue to dominate. According to DeFiLlama data, Solana topped DEX trade for the fifth straight month, surpassing Ethereum (ETH) by 24% to reach $109 billion. Raydium (RAY), Meteora, and Orca continue to drive liquidity, maintaining Solana’s DeFi ecosystem despite memecoin losses.
