Pump.fun Revamps Fees After 2x Volume Spike Revealed Flawed Creator Incentives
Pump.fun, the leading Memecoin launchpad on Solana, is overhauling its creator fee system after realising the old system was distorting...
Quick overview
- Pump.fun is revamping its creator fee system to address distortions in behavior caused by the previous model.
- The old Dynamic Fees V1 system led to a surge in token launches but failed to foster sustainable trading activity.
- The new framework introduces flexible fee sharing and governance tools to better align incentives for creators and communities.
- Despite recent challenges, Pump.fun remains the leading Memecoin launchpad on Solana, accounting for 75% to 80% of all launches.
Pump.fun, the leading Memecoin launchpad on Solana, is overhauling its creator fee system after realising the old system was distorting behaviour on the platform. This move comes on the back of months of breakneck activity driven by Dynamic Fees V1, a system that boosted token launches but offered little in terms of trading or liquidity.
Co-founder Alon Cohen says the current model “probably skewed incentives a bit” – encouraging people to launch low-risk tokens while discouraging the high-risk trading activity that actually keeps the volume going. Traders, he points out, are where the platform gets its liquidity from – and weakening their role a bit ended up creating structural imbalances that only became apparent once the initial momentum started to fade.
Creator Fees Drove Short-Term Growth
At first glance, Dynamic Fees V1 looked like a hit. Within a few weeks of going live, Pump.fun saw a significant surge in creators getting involved, teams launching tokens, going live with their streams, and competing for attention, which in turn meant the on-chain metrics looked pretty sweet. Bonding curve volumes almost doubled during the early phase, making it one of the most exciting markets the platform saw in 2025.
Pumpfun co-founder basically admitted the creator fee system needs a rethink.
It worked short-term (tons of new creators & activity), but the incentives are kinda misaligned long-term.Feels like they’re shifting focus back to traders & liquidity as the real engine. pic.twitter.com/eCXcHBBAqp
— AVOLA (@Avolaofficial) January 10, 2026
But of course, that growth was short-lived. Cohen reckons that the system ended up making it too easy for people to launch tokens without actually doing the hard work required to create a healthy, liquid market. The result was a massive influx of new coins, but with precious little actual trading activity.
Effectively, the creator fees rewarded a narrow segment of serious projects with proper teams, but hardly ever had any effect on the average Memecoin deployer. Instead of encouraging long-term engagement, the fees turned into a quick and easy way to mint tokens and move on.
New Fee Sharing & Control Tools
Pump.fun’s response to all this is a redesigned creator fee framework that tries to get the incentives right.
The first phase introduces flexible fee sharing and clearer governance tools for teams and communities. Now, creators and the admin can:
- Split fees amongst up to ten different wallets
- Assign percentage-based payouts after the token goes live
- Transfer coin ownership to a new operator
- Lock in token rules so a rogue admin can’t change them
Cohen makes it clear that Pump.fun will never take creator fees itself, framing the system as something that’s meant to be useful for the active participants, not the platform insiders. The fees can be claimed at any time and won’t expire if left uncollected, which should help ease the pressure to grab the cash right away.
Pump.fun Reasserts Its Dominance on Solana
Despite some flak lately, Pump.fun remains the top launchpad on Solana for Memecoins. Its super-efficient token creation process and standard path to liquidity have allowed it to scale like crazy. Although LetsBonk temporarily overtook it in July on volume and revenue, the gap only lasted for a little while.
With some aggressive PUMP token buybacks and a revised payout model under Project Ascend, Pump.fun managed to regain its momentum and is once again accounting for 75% to 80% of all Memecoin launches on Solana.
The fee overhaul is part of a bigger readjustment. As the Memecoin market matures, Pump.fun is betting that incentives that actually make sense – not just quick and easy launches – will be the key to who controls the next wave of on-chain speculation.
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