"The King is dead, long live the King": The power transition in the Solana ecosystem

"The king is dead, long live the king." This declaration echoed in the Palace of Versailles in the 18th century. The nobles quickly turned from the recently deceased king to the new ruler, embodying an eternal truth about power: power never belongs to anyone; it flows like water and always seeks a new vessel. This transfer of power not only occurred in ancient courts but is also being played out today in the memecoin Launchpad space on the Solana blockchain.

Once the dominant player, Pump.fun controlled 88% of the market share just a month ago, but has now fallen to 13%. The new challenger, Let'sBONK, has rapidly risen to capture 86% of the market. This is not only another testament to the volatility of the crypto world but also a classic case of an empire's collapse, warning us that even with a significant first-mover advantage, neglecting the crucial moat of attention can lead to an instant loss of that advantage.

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The Rise and Fall of the Pump.fun Empire

Pump.fun was founded in January 2024 by three young people in their twenties, and its revolutionary idea is: by simply uploading a picture, giving it a name, and clicking a few times, you can issue a token at a cost of less than 2 dollars, without any programming knowledge. This satisfies the underlying desire of people to transform "worthless" into "valuable"; in the crypto world, this is not a fantasy but a feasible business model.

By January 2025, Pump.fun had generated over $458 million in revenue, launching thousands of new coins daily, with peak daily revenue surpassing $7 million. It not only became an infrastructure but also dominated the discourse of Solana memecoin culture. However, it was its most innovative live streaming feature that sowed the seeds of risk.

In November 2024, the live streaming feature began to spiral out of control. Some users engaged in extreme behaviors in front of the camera to gain attention, even leading to serious incidents where minors threatened their family members with firearms. Although Pump.fun urgently shut down the live streaming feature, its reputation suffered a severe blow, with income plummeting by 66% that week.

In the face of the crisis, Pump.fun decided to self-rescue by issuing tokens (ICO). This ICO raised 500 million USD from over 10,000 wallets in just 12 minutes, along with 700 million USD from private placements, seemingly a success. However, a deeper analysis revealed that the token distribution is highly concentrated and there is no lock-up period, raising concerns in the market.

The token price quickly dropped after a brief rise, exhibiting a typical "death spiral" trend. There are also issues with the tokenomics design, with 67% held by the project team and an unclear distribution timeline. Although the platform has created massive profits for users, there are no immediate community rewards; instead, private investors are selling off in large quantities, putting immense pressure on the market.

Finally, when co-founder Alon Cohen announced the cancellation of the long-promised airdrop, it completely shattered the community's trust. This not only caused the token price to plummet by 15% within 24 hours, but more importantly, it destroyed the trust bond between the project and the community.

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The Rise of Let'sBONK

When Pump.fun fell into crisis, Let'sBONK quietly rose, filling the critical elements that competitors overlooked: transparency, community orientation, and clear communication.

Currently, Let'sBONK's daily revenue has reached 1.3 million dollars, which is five times that of Pump.fun. From almost zero in May to a stable breakthrough of one million dollars in daily revenue in July, Let'sBONK's growth is impressive. In contrast, Pump.fun's revenue has declined from a peak of over 7 million dollars in January back to the level seen in September 2024.

Let'sBONK will use 1% of its weekly revenue to repurchase BONK tokens, supporting its ecosystem. This robust strategy sharply contrasts with the 60% market value loss of the PUMP token since its ICO.

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The Importance of Attention Economy

Pump.fun once seized market opportunities with its strong network effects. However, attention is a fragile resource. Unlike the moats of traditional industries, once trust collapses, user mindset can quickly crumble. The live streaming incident gave users a reason to try other platforms, making Let'sBONK a "clean" choice without historical baggage.

This transformation is similar to the process of Facebook replacing Myspace. Although Myspace had advantages in functionality and scale, it lost to Facebook in cultural narrative. Facebook became the platform representing "real users," while Myspace became synonymous with chaos and marginalization.

After realizing the crisis, Pump.fun took a series of countermeasures, including increasing the token buyback ratio to 100% and launching a 30-day user incentive program. However, these tactical adjustments did not manage to turn the situation around.

The core of the problem lies at the strategic level. No matter how many buybacks or incentive plans are implemented, it is difficult to regain the trust and attention of users that have already been lost. Pump.fun's reward mechanism is solely based on trading volume, while Let'sBONK has established an ecosystem reward system that is deeply tied to user interests.

The Let'sBONK BONK reward program allows users to lock up for 6 to 12 months and receive a proportional share of the revenue from ecosystem products. This mechanism not only incentivizes trading but also encourages users to participate in ecological development. Users can earn "Bonk Points" through various means, which may later be redeemed for physical items or rights, further enhancing user engagement.

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A Broader Perspective

In traditional industries, market leaders can usually maintain their dominance for decades. However, in the digital market, the cost of user switching is almost zero, and dominant positions can be disrupted in just a few months.

The history of Dylan Kerler, co-founder of Pump.fun, participating in the "pump and dump" scheme has been exposed, which is nothing short of a fatal blow for an industry built on trust and memes. The success of Let'sBONK lies not only in its product advantages but also in its timing, as it seized the most vulnerable moment of Pump.fun's reputation to enter the market.

The winner-takes-all logic of network effects is starting to reverse. Once users begin to migrate to Let'sBONK, the flywheel effect that propelled Pump.fun to rise also starts to reverse. Developers follow traders, and traders chase popular projects, leading to a faster decline of the platform.

Nevertheless, Pump.fun has not completely lost the opportunity to turn things around. They have a financing reserve of $1.2 billion, which buys them time and experimental space. Their platform has supported hundreds of thousands of project launches without crashing, which is especially important in a high-pressure environment. Even with a decline in market share, they still have considerable daily revenue.

As a pioneer in this category, Pump.fun has simplified token issuance into a click operation, earning them lasting brand recognition. Their recent series of actions, such as launching Pump.fun 2.0, increasing the repurchase ratio, and introducing user incentives, all demonstrate that they have not given up.

The most likely scenario for the future is market fragmentation. Let'sBONK may become the dominant platform, while Pump.fun may transform into a niche platform with loyal users. However, to achieve a true turnaround, Pump.fun needs not only to address technical issues or rely on financial incentives, but also to rebuild trust and reclaim cultural high ground. This may require a complete restructuring of the token economics, and even a change in leadership, to completely break free from past controversies.

The wisdom of the French court tells us: when a ruler loses legitimacy, no amount of wealth and ceremony can restore dignity. Sometimes, to ensure the continuity of the kingdom, the crown must be passed to a new heir. In the rapidly changing world of cryptocurrency, this ancient wisdom remains applicable.

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