TL;DR
- Raydium launched LaunchLab to compete with Pump.fun, allowing token creation with immediate liquidity access and external fee configuration.
- 25% of the fees generated by LaunchLab are used to buy back RAY, boosting its price by 8% and pushing its market cap above $680 million.
- Pump.fun, which previously drove traffic to RAY, now competes directly following the success of PumpSwap, whose volume already exceeds $31.7 billion.
Raydium, the most active decentralized exchange in the Solana ecosystem, launched LaunchLab, a tool designed to simplify the creation of new tokens.
This move came shortly after the debut of PumpSwap, Pump.fun’s DEX, which disrupted the previous dynamic between both platforms. Until March, tokens created on Pump.fun would automatically migrate to Raydium once they surpassed $69,000 in market capitalization. With PumpSwap, that integration ended.
LaunchLab aims to regain ground lost to Pump.fun’s rapid growth. It allows users to launch tokens directly connected to Raydium’s liquidity pools and enables other platforms to set transaction fees. A portion of those fees—25%—is allocated to buying back RAY. This feature introduces a direct value mechanism for the token, where economic incentives play a key role in competing in the market.
The Market Reacts Positively to the Launch of LaunchLab
Since the launch was revealed, the RAY token rose by approximately 8%, outperforming the broader crypto market. According to CoinMarketCap, the token reached a value of $2.33 per unit. Its market capitalization exceeded $680 million, and volume increased by 187%, surpassing $265 million.
Competition Between Raydium and Pump.fun Intensifies
The competition between the platforms marks a major shift in their former relationship. Pump.fun had been a significant source of trading volume for Raydium, but its independence through PumpSwap altered the balance. In its first ten days, PumpSwap reached $2.5 billion in volume. Currently, its cumulative volume exceeds $31.7 billion, according to DefiLlama data.
LaunchLab incorporates features similar to Pump.fun, though with its own adjustments. The most notable is its direct connection to RAY’s liquidity infrastructure. It also includes economic incentives to strengthen the token’s ecosystem without relying on intermediaries. The tool had been in development for months, and its release confirms Raydium’s intention to challenge the ground Pump.fun has started to dominate within Solana. The race to attract new tokens and trading volume is intensifying, and the two platforms no longer share mutual interests.
