Report: Most Solana Memecoins Down 90%, Pump.fun Linked to 10k Rug Pulls
A new analysis reports that the majority of Solana-based meme coins have lost 90% of their value, underscoring the sector's extreme volatility. The popular launchpad Pump.fun is reportedly linked to over 10,000 fraudulent launches, or "rug pulls." This data has prompted a critical reassessment of permissionless launchpads and is fueling a narrative shift toward platforms with improved safeguards.
- An analysis by crypto surveillance firm Solidus Labs found that a staggering 98.6% of tokens launched on Pump.fun between January 2024 and March 2025 were fraudulent schemes, such as rug pulls or pump-and-dumps. Out of over 7 million tokens created on the platform with at least five trades, only 97,000 managed to maintain liquidity above $1,000. - The ease of launching a token on Pump.fun, which costs only a fraction of a SOL and takes seconds, contributed to the flood of fraudulent projects. This low barrier to entry allowed malicious actors to easily create and abandon tokens after extracting value. - The fallout from the widespread fraud on platforms like Pump.fun has severely damaged trust in the entire Solana meme coin ecosystem, contributing to legitimate projects like BONK and WIF losing 85-90% of their value. - Research indicates a high mortality rate for meme coins in general, with one study finding 97% of all meme coin projects fail within their first year. On Solana specifically, over 51% of meme coins have been classified as malicious. - The surge in meme coin activity and associated bot spam has been linked to significant network congestion on Solana, with transaction failure rates reportedly reaching as high as 75% at times, diminishing the user experience. - In response to the prevalence of scams, a narrative shift towards "Fairer Launches" is emerging, with new launchpads focusing on mechanisms like anti-bot protection to create a more secure environment for investors. - The extreme speculation has led to significant retail losses, with one report estimating that investors lost over $4.3 billion on two Trump-family-related meme coins, while insiders reportedly profited by more than $600 million. - The broader market attention on meme coins has significantly declined, with measures of community interest and Google searches for the term dropping by approximately 90% from late 2024 to October 2025. This coincides with a drop in meme coins' share of DEX trading volume on Solana from around 60% to 30%.
