The total value locked (TVL) on PumpSwap, the decentralized exchange from Solana-based memecoin launchpad pumpfun, surged to a record $334.81 million this weekend. The DEX’s TVL high came just weeks after pumpfun introduced a new fee structure that rewards creators of smaller tokens.
Pumpfun TVL and PUMP trading volume. Source: DefiLlama
Data from DefiLlama shows that the surge wasn’t limited to locked capital on the DEX, as the protocol’s native PUMP token also posted record trading volumes of $1.66 billion over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the price of PUMP spiked almost 70% over the past week and 144% in the past two weeks, to reach an all-time high of $0.00889 yesterday, Sept. 14, according to CoinGecko data.
Pumpfun TVL and platform revenue. Source: DefiLlama
The influx of trading and price momentum also lifted the platform’s 24-hour revenue to more than $3.1 million as of today, Sept. 15, marking its highest level since mid-February. As of press time, pumpfun is the third-largest protocol in the DeFi space by daily revenue, overtaking Hyperliquid, per DefiLlama data.
Top DeFi protocols by 24-hour revenue. Source: DefiLlama
The growth comes about two weeks after pumpfun rolled out the first part of its “Project Ascend” ecosystem updates, dubbed “Dynamic Fees V1,” on its PumpSwap marketplace. The update changes how Creator Fees work — creators of smaller cap tokens will receive higher Creator Fees, but the share of fees given to creators drops as the token’s market cap grows. Pumpfun says the change makes it easier for new, smaller projects to get off the ground.
“Now, creating on pump fun will be 10x more rewarding, meaning we’ll see an exponential increase in talent onboarding to pumpfun, from streamers to startups,” pumpfun said in an X thread on Sept. 2.
Buybacks and Listings
PUMP’s price performance comes two months after its much-anticipated ICO, and what ended up being a bumpy token launch, as whales were quick to dump their tokens shortly after the token went live, pushing the price down, despite the platform’s $20 million token buyback program.
The PUMP price has since fully recovered and pushed to new highs, with this recent surge driven by the aggressive buybacks — with pumpfun using 100% of daily revenue to buy PUMP on open markets — and recent listings on major exchanges. Top centralized crypto exchange Binance, along with major South Korean platforms Upbit and Bithumb, all listed PUMP for spot trading on Sept. 11, giving more traders a chance to buy and sell it.
