Launchpad platform comparison: Pump Fun, LetsBonk and Virtuals Protocol

Launchpad, as a decentralized platform, is usually operated by blockchain projects or DEXs, helping emerging projects issue tokens through IDOs. These platforms provide fundraising channels for project parties while giving investors the opportunity to participate early in quality projects. This article focuses on meme token launch platforms, which differ from traditional Launchpads mainly in that: the market value of listed tokens is lower, nearly 100% circulation, most are meme coins, and the user issuance threshold is low, resulting in a higher potential wealth effect.

This type of platform mainly has the following functions:

1. Provide financing channels for new projects, raising funds through token sales for development and promotion;
2. Help project parties distribute tokens to early investors at a lower market value;
3. Utilize popular events or IPs to gain a large amount of traffic and attention.
4. Provide early participants with potential high return opportunities to facilitate the rapid spread of the community.

Since the huge success of Pump Fun, many teams have entered this field, but most have returned empty-handed. In addition to Pump Fun, the well-established Solana meme coin BONK has recently launched its own platform LetsBonk.fun, with multiple tokens reaching a market cap of over ten million dollars, a good start. The leading AI Agent platform Virtuals Protocol has recently introduced new ways to participate and activities, with its native token $VIRTUAL doubling in price within a week, seemingly showing initial results.

Next, let's compare the characteristics of these three platforms and their representative tokens:

Pump Fun

As the origin of the meme craze in the second half of 2024, Pump Fun had a peak daily income exceeding $7 million, and even during the current market cooling period, it maintains a level of about $1.5 million. Since its launch, the total revenue has exceeded $600 million, making it a "money printer in the crypto world."

Unlike other Solana native projects, Pump Fun did not choose to support the ecosystem through staking or operating nodes, but instead continuously exchanged the acquired SOL for USDC. Since 2025, they have sold SOL worth $317 million. This practice, combined with some previous controversies, means that although Pump Fun is profitable, it is not a favored entity supported by the Solana Foundation.

Pump Fun has become the preferred platform for token issuance, covering various themes such as animals, homophones, news events, AI, etc. Almost any concept can be turned into a meme coin. The platform itself does not particularly focus on any specific direction and remains the top choice for current token issuance.

LetsBonk

Compared to Pump Fun, LetsBonk has a more orthodox position in the ecosystem. As the most representative meme coin on the Solana chain, BONK has been deeply rooted in the ecosystem for over four years. Whether it is the recent support from high-level officials or its appearances in various offline events in the past, BONK is more popular than Pump Fun.

In terms of platform mechanisms, LetsBonk operates more altruistically: 1% of revenue comes from transaction fees, which are used for platform operations and growth, supporting validators to promote DeFi development, and repurchasing and destroying BONK, among other things. Additionally, with its collaboration with Raydium's LaunchLab, LetsBonk shows a strong commitment to supporting the Solana ecosystem.

The token with the highest market cap on LetsBonk currently is Hosico, reaching 38 million USD, inspired by a famous internet celebrity cat. Another token worth noting is Letsbonk, which shares the same name, and Grassiot. Letsbonk was once considered the official platform coin, with a market cap reaching 30 million USD on its first day of trading, but has now fallen to around 4 million USD. Grassiot gained popularity due to actions taken by the founder of BONK, but has also seen a decline, with a current market cap of about 4.3 million USD.

Virtuals Protocol

The AI Agent LaunchPad, originally built on the Base chain, has recently expanded to Solana. Its business model is simple; users need to consume VIRTUAL to create and trade tokens. However, as the hype around AI has declined, the number of tokens successfully issued daily on the platform has dropped from over 100 at its peak to fewer than 10.

To address this situation, Virtuals Protocol has recently launched a major update:

1. Virgen Points system: used for accessing pre-TGE token allocations, especially "giga AI Agent launches".

2. The AI agent starts with a fully diluted market capitalization of $336,000 $VIRTUAL(, approximately $232,580), giving all users equal early access through Virgen Points.

3. Multiple ways to earn points:

   • Trenchor Points: Earn by trading specific tokens
   • $VIRTUAL Points: Earn by holding $VIRTUAL tokens
   • Yap for Points: Create relevant content to earn points
   • $VADER Stakers: Earn by staking $VADER tokens

4. Participation Method:

   • Commit to participate using Virgen Points, with a maximum token allocation of 0.5%
   • Invest $VIRTUAL tokens, up to 566 to ensure maximum allocation
   • Claim the purchased tokens after the successful Genesis Launch

Overall, Virtuals Protocol is building a smaller but more loyal LaunchPad, similar to the point-based new share activities recently launched by some exchanges. For investors who are optimistic about this model, the following participation methods can be considered:

1. Directly purchase $VIRTUAL tokens
2. Directly purchase $VADER token
3. Participate in platform activities

Summary

Pump Fun, LetsBonk, and Virtuals Protocol each have their advantages and concerns:

• Pump Fun maintains a strong traffic entry, but frequent cashing out raises doubts.
• LetsBonk is showing goodwill to the ecosystem through deep community engagement and low fee revenue sharing, but attention is diverted from the platform token and secondary tokens.
• Virtuals Protocol's innovative points mechanism is laying out new tracks, but the issuance capability still needs to be verified.

The key to the future development of the LaunchPad track lies in value realization and community resilience. The platform needs to seek a balance between short-term popularity and long-term ecological construction, while project parties need to provide real utility rather than relying solely on narratives. After the influx of speculative money recedes, which model is more sustainable will become an important indicator for market evaluation.