In the second quarter of the year, the global crypto industry was awash with a frenzy fueled by Celebrity-inspired memecoins promising to make early backers good returns on investment.
The global crypto scene was saturated with these memecoins inspired by popular celebrities and promoted by top crypto influencers on X.
Some of the popular memecoins include $MOTHER inspired by rapper Iggy Azalea, $DADDY inspired by controversial internet figure Andrew Tate, $DAVIDO inspired by Nigerian Popstar David Adeleke, and $JENNER inspired by celebrity Caitlyn Jenner.
These celebrity tokens have one thing in common, they are all based on the Solana blockchain and they were created with Pump.fun, Solana’s meme coin generator.
The celebrity memecoin era however died a quick and natural death because most of the coins turned out to be Pump and Dump schemes.
Of all the memecoins listed above, more than two-thirds have seen their values drop by a staggering 90%, while the remaining have experienced declines between 28% and 88%.
We are now going to shift our focus from the sad case of the celebrity memecoin era and the losses it incurred to focus on Pump.fun the resource that was used to create them.
What is Pump.fun?
Pump.fun is a meme coin generator built on the Solana blockchain that allows users to create and launch tokens on the Solana blockchain with very little effort. The crypto resource simplifies the token creation process making it easy for anyone to create a token in just a few clicks.
Pump.fun led to a surge in Solana-based tokens due to how quickly and easily tokens can be created. In May 2024, nearly 500,000 tokens were launched using Pump.fun on Solana.
The intuitive design of Pump.fun also attracts newbies who are interested in memecoins and have no technical skills. The platform makes it easy for them to create and trade memecoins while onboarding them to the world of cryptocurrencies.
Pump.fun since its creation has drawn mixed reactions from the global crypto audience. Some believe the resource is leading the onboarding of new users to crypto while others believe the tool is been abused by bad actors who are floating pump-and-dump schemes and ruining the integrity of the industry.
Sunpump.meme
Sunpump.meme is a replica and direct rival of Pump.fun. Sunpump.meme is a memecoin generator based on the Tron Blockchain.
The protocol was launched on Aug 9 by Justin Sun the founder of the Tron blockchain and has gone on to rival Solana’s Pump.fun in revenue and number of meme coins generated.
SunPump is a memecoin launchpad that “aims to provide all users with the most user-friendly and convenient meme trading experiences within the Tron network.” according to the launch announcement.
The platform promises to offer creators a convenient and cost-effective token issuance solution within the Tron ecosystem.
The Rivalry
Sunpump.meme was launched at a time when Pump.fun is experiencing dwindling popularity due to its link to most pump and dump schemes. Both memecoin generators are having a go at each other for more users and revenue despite the criticisms raised by critics.
On Aug 21, CoinTelegraph reported that Sunpump.meme surpassed Pump.fun in revenue and number of memecoins created.
The report cited Dune analytics data and revealed that 7,351 tokens had been launched on Sun Pump, and the platform had generated $585,000 in revenue in the previous 24 hours.
However, Pump. fun saw only 6,701 new tokens created, generating $366,000 in revenue within the same timeframe.
SunPump impressed in its first 12 days of operation pulling in $1.5 million in revenue with over 25,000 new coins created.
Some popular memecoins created on SunPump include SUNDOG, SUNWUKONG, and SUNCAT with each coin rallying to impressive valuations.
Pump.fun might be getting outshone by the new kid in the block but it is not doing badly still.
Recently, the Solana-based memecoin generator hit a milestone of $100 million in total revenue generated despite being launched only in January 2024.
Memecoin generators generate revenue mainly from transaction fees alongside other avenues within their respective ecosystem.
Pump.fun charges a 1% fee on transactions while Sunpump’s transaction fee is pegged at 0.352 TRX, worth $0.04576 per transaction.
The rivalry between these two important crypto resources benefits the crypto end user and at the same time drives crypto adoption. Both memecoin generators offer an avenue for meme coin creation and trading away from the previous technical alternatives that existed before they were created.
Despite the argument that memecoins are ruining the integrity of the industry, memecoins have proven to be a very lucrative albeit risky investment vehicle whose position as an integral part of the crypto industry was sealed a long time ago.