Pump.fun withstands the cooling of memecoins: where do its revenues come from?

• Pump generated $17.86 million in revenue over the last seven days.
• PumpSwap processed $2.305 billion in transactions during one week.

Pump.fun was born in January 2024 as a Solana platform that allows users to create a token and start trading it immediately, without organizing a presale or initially providing a liquidity pool. Its growth was linked to the rise of memecoins, but that market is now much smaller.

At the time of publication of this article, October 5, 2026, the combined market capitalization of memecoins is $30.82 billion, 58.28% less than a year earlier, while its daily volume stands at $3.07 billion, with a year-on-year decline of 63.71%, according to CoinMarketCap. Evolution of the market capitalization of memecoins over the last 12 months. Source: CoinMarketCap.

Despite this setback, Pump regained third place among the protocols and companies in the sector with the highest weekly revenues, with $17.86 million during the seven days ending October 5. It surpassed Hyperliquid's $14.64 million and is behind Tether and Circle.

How does a platform born from the rise of memecoins continue to generate money when that narrative has lost strength? Pump.fun did not replace that business: it expanded the stages in which it can charge. Today, it generates revenue from the launch of a token to its subsequent trading through PumpSwap and other interfaces in the ecosystem. Pump ranks third among the protocols with the highest weekly revenues. Source: DeFiLlama

The launch of tokens still supports Pump.fun

DefiLlama groups under Pump the original launchpad, PumpSwap, Terminal, and the mobile application. The first continues to concentrate a good part of the business: Pump.fun produced $11.6 million in revenue over seven days and $35.87 million in 30 days.

When someone creates a token, it begins trading through a bonding curve. This is an automated mechanism that sets the price according to purchases and sales, without an order book or market makers: each purchase raises the price and each sale lowers it.

At this stage, transactions pay a fee, part of which goes to the protocol and another part to the creator. Creation is free, and when a coin meets the conditions to "graduate," a fee of 0.015 SOL (about $1.76 with Solana at $117) is paid, and its liquidity migrates to PumpSwap.

This is where the second source of income begins.

PumpSwap extends the business but depends on volume

PumpSwap is the decentralized exchange (DEX) of Pump.fun on Solana. Once a token graduates, it can continue to be traded there and generate fees.

From September 29 to October 5, PumpSwap processed $2.305 billion in transactions and retained $4.32 million as protocol revenue. In 30 days, the volume reached $13.061 billion and the revenue $14.52 million. PumpSwap currently takes a 0.05% protocol fee per transaction.

Terminal adds another avenue. This advanced trading interface, which operates on Solana, Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Base, generated $721,559 over seven days after deducting cashbacks and referrals.

The mobile application also allows launching and trading coins. DefiLlama attributes $1.22 million in weekly revenue to it, although it clarifies that these transactions are already accounted for in the metrics of Pump.fun and PumpSwap. Therefore, it is not appropriate to add them when calculating the underlying economic activity.

This expansion explains part of Pump's resistance, but it also shows its limit. Revenues still depend on the existence of speculative volume. In PumpSwap, for example, the commission that the protocol receives grows or falls directly with the operations.

Moreover, surpassing Hyperliquid is, for now, a weekly snapshot. In the 30 days ending October 5, the DEX still accumulated $71.31 million in revenue, compared to $57.11 million for the entire Pump.

Buybacks Have Already Consumed Nearly $475 Million

Part of the revenues from Pump.fun, PumpSwap, and Terminal is used to buy back PUMP in the market and burn it, that is, permanently removing it from circulation, as reported by CriptoNoticias.

At the time of publishing this article, the Pump.fun panel shows $474.96 million used to buy back and burn PUMP, not a future allocation. In total, about 169.96 billion tokens have been removed, equivalent to 16.996% of the original supply.
Graph showing the dollars allocated to buy back and burn PUMP tokens. Source: pump.fun.

The mechanism had two stages. For about nine months, until April 28, 2026, Pump.fun allocated 100% of its revenues to buybacks and accumulated about $370 million in PUMP, which it later burned. Since that date, a scheduled contract directs approximately 50% of the net revenues of Pump.fun, PumpSwap, and Terminal to market purchases and burns the acquired tokens for one year. The other 50% remains available to operate and expand the business.

How to dimension the $474.96 million? The $1.149 billion in accumulated revenues for Pump.fun, $160.35 million for PumpSwap, and $25.45 million for Terminal. Without adding the mobile application to avoid duplicating already included operations, it amounts to about $1.335 billion. The historical spending on buybacks is equivalent, as a reference, to about 35.6% of that figure.

The comparison is not exact period against period ---the buybacks began after revenue generation and the methodology was changing---, but it allows measuring the cost of the program. Its sustainability depends on the business continuing to produce commissions: with the current scheme, less volume means less revenue and, by extension, less money available to buy back PUMP.

So far, moreover, the burn has not been enough to return the token to its highs. PUMP was trading on October 5 at around $0.0062, 48.15% below the $0.01214 reached on July 12, 2025, the day it debuted in the market.
Evolution of the price of the PUMP token since its market debut. Source: CoinMarketCap.

The answer to the initial question appears there: Pump.fun still depends on speculation with tokens, but it no longer charges when they are born. It has expanded its business into the secondary market and the tools from which it operates. This has allowed it to sustain revenues even with a market capitalization of memecoins much lower than a year ago. The test will be whether this structure also withstands when trading volume stops accompanying.

This content is provided for general informational purposes only and doesn't constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Any events, rewards, online promotions, or related information mentioned herein should not be considered a recommendation, solicitation, or invitation to purchase, sell, trade, or otherwise deal in any crypto assets. Crypto assets are highly volatile and may result in loss. The availability of WEEX services, products, and related events may vary by region. You are responsible for ensuring that your participation is in accordance with applicable local laws and regulations.