RAY rose more than 22% in 24 hours: Raydium LaunchLab in-depth research report

Author: Spirit, Golden Finance

Abstract

Raydium LaunchLab is a new Meme coin issuance platform launched by the well-known decentralized exchange Raydium in the Solana ecosystem. The strategic significance of this is in response to the success of Pump.fun and the changing dynamics of the Solana Meme Coin market. Key features of LaunchLab include custom bonding curves and flexible fee structures. This report aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of LaunchLab’s product design, mechanism features, comparison with the leading multi-chain Launchpad, ecosystem comparison, evolution of its relationship with Pump.fun, and possible impact on the future MEME market. Preliminary analysis of the report shows that LaunchLab has the potential to have a significant impact on the Meme Coin market and gain a foothold in competition with other Launchpads.

1. Raydium LaunchLab Platform Introduction

Raydium is a leading automated market maker (AMM) and decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Solana blockchain. The core functionality of Raydium is to provide liquidity and facilitate decentralized trading by allowing users to deposit token pairs into smart contracts. It plays a vital role in decentralized exchanges, ensuring deep liquidity and price efficiency. Unlike traditional AMMs, Raydium integrates the decentralized order book Serum, enabling deeper liquidity and efficient price discovery. Raydium aims to solve problems associated with decentralized AMM design, including high gas fees, unnecessary failed orders, and liquidity fragmentation, and take full advantage of Solana's fast and low-cost transaction features.

Raydium’s rationale for launching LaunchLab is a direct response to Pump.fun’s growing popularity and success in the Meme coin issuance platform space. The development of LaunchLab is seen by Raydium as a key step in maintaining its relevance and profitability, especially considering that a significant portion of its revenue comes from Pump.fun. Raydium believes that Pump.fun’s strong product-market fit is due in part to Raydium’s infrastructure. The launch comes less than a month after Pump.fun hinted that it would develop its own automated market maker (AMM), effectively ending an informal partnership between the two platforms.

LaunchLab aims to provide more powerful functionality than Pump.fun, potentially attracting more users and projects. The goal is to provide an alternative for teams that do not want to develop contracts from scratch and for Pump.fun users who prefer Raydium's AMM v for liquidity pool migration. The platform aims to provide users with more powerful functionality than Pump.fun, including linear, exponential, and logarithmic joint curves.

Raydium’s launch of LaunchLab indicates a strategic shift toward directly competing in the Meme coin issuance platform space, reflecting its recognition of the importance of this market and the potential to generate revenue in the Solana ecosystem. As a mature DEX, Raydium already has a user base and infrastructure on Solana. This move into the space of a dedicated Meme Coin issuance platform shows a well-thought-out effort to capitalize on a thriving niche within its ecosystem. Direct competition with the already quite successful Pump.fun suggests that Raydium is interested in regaining market share or preventing further loss of its existing revenue related to Meme Coin transactions.

The timing of this launch, which coincides with Pump.fun hinting at developing its own AMM, suggests that Raydium is adopting a defensive strategy aimed at retaining projects in its ecosystem. Pump.fun’s potential establishment of its own AMM will reduce its reliance on Raydium’s liquidity, which has been an important source of revenue for Raydium. By launching LaunchLab, Raydium preemptively provides a competitive platform within its ecosystem, aiming to attract new Meme Coin projects and retain those users who may migrate to Pump.fun’s integrated solution. This shows that Raydium is taking a proactive approach to maintaining its position in the Solana DeFi space.

2. LaunchLab Product design and mechanism of the platform

The main features and functions of the LaunchLab platform include:

• Customized joint curve:      LaunchLab will provide linear, exponential and logarithmic joint curves to match the demand and price of tokens     . The bonding curve determines how the price of a token changes as supply changes, and LaunchLab allows for custom curves, which provides greater control over price discovery and distribution of tokens than more standardized approaches that other platforms may offer. These curves are designed to match demand and price of tokens.

• Flexible Fee Structure: The platform will allow third-party user interfaces to set their own fees. This flexibility is expected to make LaunchLab a more general token creation and management tool, potentially attracting developers and investors seeking more advanced features and customized cost structures.

• Multi-token Support:      LaunchLab will also support multiple quote tokens in addition to SOL. This adds a layer of versatility to a wider range of projects with different base trading pair preferences.

• Integration with Raydium Liquidity Pools: LaunchLab provides direct access to Raydium’s extensive liquidity pools. This feature is expected to increase transaction efficiency for token creators and investors by leveraging Raydium’s existing deep liquidity.

• Integration with Raydium Liquidity Provider Locking: LaunchLab will integrate with Raydium’s liquidity provider locking, allowing issuers to permanently lock in trading fees on tokens. This feature can incentivize liquidity provision by ensuring long-term rewards for LPs, thereby contributing to the stability and sustainability of newly issued tokens.

• AMM v Integration: For projects already familiar with or prefer Raydium’s AMM v, LaunchLab provides a seamless integration.

The token issuance process on the platform is as follows: Raydium LaunchLab is essentially a token issuance platform built on Raydium DEX, designed to facilitate the initial distribution and trading of new cryptocurrency tokens. Setting up a liquidity pool on Raydium involves steps such as preparing to create a liquidity pool, connecting a wallet, navigating to the liquidity pool section, and adding liquidity. Raydium supports Initial DEX Offerings (IDOs) through its AcceleRaytor platform, enabling new projects to raise funds and distribute tokens directly to the community. In contrast, Pump.fun provides a code-free issuance platform solution that enables anyone to create and deploy tokens through an intuitive interface, with built-in liquidity and anti-runaway mechanisms provided through bonding curves.

LaunchLab’s emphasis on customization (bonding curves, fees) suggests that its strategy is to attract more mature projects and developers compared to Pump.fun’s potentially simpler model. By offering multiple bonding curve options, LaunchLab allows projects to customize their token launch and price discovery mechanisms based on their specific needs and market strategies. Likewise, flexibility in setting fees for third-party user interfaces can incentivize integration and provide revenue-sharing opportunities. This level of control and customization could be particularly attractive to experienced teams or those with specific token economic models in mind, potentially differentiating LaunchLab from Pump.fun’s more standardized approach.

Integration with Raydium's existing liquidity and LP lock-ups provides significant advantages in terms of instant trading and potential long-term liquidity provider incentives, which Pump.fun may need to build from scratch if it builds its own AMM. Raydium already has a large amount of liquidity on its DEX for various trading pairs. Introducing new tokens directly into this environment through LaunchLab provides instant trading opportunities and reduces the risk of initial illiquidity commonly faced by new projects. Additionally, integration with LP locks allows projects to incentivize long-term liquidity provision by locking in transaction fees, which can attract more liquidity and help improve the stability and perceived value of issued tokens. This built-in infrastructure gives LaunchLab a potential advantage over Pump.fun, which would need to attract and build its own liquidity even if it had its own AMM.

3. Comparison with the mechanism of leading multi-chain Launchpad

• Mechanism comparison: Analyze and compare the token sale mechanism and fee structure of LaunchLab with established multi-chain Launchpads such as Four.MEME, Seedify.fund and Polkastarter.

• Four.MEME： Four.MEME, with its lowest upfront token issuance cost and fair issuance model, is particularly attractive to Meme coin projects with limited initial capital, while providing immediate liquidity on PancakeSwap, which is in line with the life cycle of Meme coins and community expectations. The platform allows anyone to issue tokens with minimal checks, but the lack of a strong vetting process increases the risk of scams and low-quality projects. Four.MEME’s built-in community engagement features promote virality, and its ease of use is a significant advantage for cryptocurrency novices and users who seek the pleasure of fast transactions. However, recent security incidents have highlighted the need for significant security improvements on the platform.

• Seedify.fund： Focuses on blockchain gaming and metaverse projects, leveraging the Initial Game Offering (IGO), Initial NFT Offering (INO), and Initial Metaverse Offering (IMO). A tiered allocation system is adopted, where users stake Seedify Fund (SFUND) tokens to gain the right to participate in the token sale, with higher-tier users receiving larger allocations and additional benefits. A public sale was also launched, in which both SFUND holders and non-holders could participate. Startups provide Seedify with % of their total token supply to cover costs and transfer a portion to SFUND holders as rewards. Public sales charge fees, and typically 5% of the fees collected are used to buy back $SFUND. It mainly focuses on projects in the fields of Web games, NFTs and the Metaverse, and supports networks such as Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum, Polygon and Solana.

• Polkastarter： As a decentralized exchange (DEX), it aims to conduct cross-chain token pools and auctions, providing projects with a permissionless fundraising environment. Use a fixed exchange pool to exchange a fixed number of tokens at a predetermined price       . Holding and staking native POLS tokens provides users with access to higher-demand pools and potentially lower fees. POLS tokens are the basis for transaction fees on the Polkastarter platform       . While the platform is designed to be efficient in transaction fees, the specific fees for launching a project may vary depending on the pool type and any POLS staking incentives. Has multi-chain support, including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Celo, Avalanche, and Polkadot, allowing projects to launch on a variety of blockchains       .

• Raydium LaunchLab: Provides a unique approach with custom bonding curves (linear, exponential, logarithmic) to manage the supply and launch price of tokens. Allowing third-party user interfaces to set their own fees provides flexibility. Integrate directly with Raydium’s AMM for instant liquidity. The main fee structure includes customizable fees set by the integration platform. Raydium itself charges a fee for creating new pools on its standard AMM (.5 SOL), and CP-Swap pools also charge a fee for creation (also .5 SOL). The exchange fees (.5%) in the Raydium pool are contributed to liquidity providers and RAY repurchases. Mainly focused on the Solana ecosystem, leveraging the speed and low transaction costs of the Solana blockchain.

Table: Launchpad Mechanism and Fee Comparison

LaunchLab differentiates itself by offering a highly customizable token issuance mechanism and fee structure, as well as direct integration with established DEXs, which may be attractive to projects seeking to gain greater control and instant liquidity in the Solana ecosystem. Unlike Binance’s more standard subscription model or Seedify’s tiered staking approach,LaunchLab’s emphasis on bonding curves and flexible fees provides a unique level of control over token economics and issuance strategy. Tight integration with Raydium’s AMM further streamlines the process, providing immediate access to liquidity, which is critical to the success of new tokens. This combination of customization and built-in infrastructure makes LaunchLab a potentially attractive option for projects targeting the Solana DeFi space specifically.

While Polkastarter excels in cross-chain capabilities, LaunchLab’s Solana-centric strategy may attract projects that prioritize speed, low costs, and a strong presence in the Solana Meme Coin and DeFi communities.

Polkastarter’s advantage lies in its interoperability between multiple blockchains. By focusing exclusively on Solana, LaunchLab can cater to projects that value specific advantages of the Solana network, such as its high throughput and low transaction fees, which are particularly beneficial for meme coins and DeFi applications. This specialization could make LaunchLab the platform of choice for projects that have deep roots in the Solana ecosystem.

• Ecosystem Comparison: Evaluate the ecosystems surrounding LaunchLab      and its competitors, considering community engagement strategies, project review processes, success rates of launched projects, and supported blockchains.

• Seedify.fund： Cultivating a strong and dedicated community around blockchain games, NFTs, and the Metaverse. Implement a comprehensive project review process, including smart contract audits, market readiness assessments, and due diligence to ensure the security and feasibility of issuance projects       . Utilize a tiered system to incentivize community participation and provide different levels of access to the token sale based on SFUND holdings. Mainly supports projects on BSC, Ethereum, Polygon and Solana.

• Polkastarter: Promote community participation through governance mechanisms, allowing POLS token holders to participate in the decision-making process. Have a vetting process including project application, team interview, and token sale approval to ensure the quality of hosted projects. Known for its cross-chain capabilities, enabling projects to raise funds on multiple blockchain networks and reach different investor communities       .

• Raydium LaunchLab: will likely leverage Raydium’s existing community of DeFi users and traders on Solana. Details on LaunchLab's specific project review process are not explicitly provided in the code snippet, but it can be inferred that Raydium may apply its existing standards or develop new standards to ensure the quality and legitimacy of the issued Meme       coins. Success will depend on attracting a dedicated community within the Solana Meme Coin space and the performance of the projects launched. Mainly supports projects on the Solana blockchain.

LaunchLab’s success will depend largely on its ability to cultivate a strong and engaged community within the Solana ecosystem, particularly in the Meme Coin space, and attract high-quality projects, despite the typically lower barriers to entry associated with Meme Coin issuance. Meme coins are essentially driven by community sentiment and online hype. In order for LaunchLab to thrive, it needs to attract and retain a vibrant community of creators and investors in the Solana ecosystem. Given the potential for fraud and absconding in the Meme Coin space, establishing a transparent and effective project vetting process is critical to building trust and ensuring the long-term viability of the platform and the projects it hosts. This will involve not only technical and financial due diligence, but also an assessment of the project team’s credibility and community engagement plans.

While Seedify.fund has established a global community and vetting mechanisms, LaunchLab’s focused approach on the Solana ecosystem makes it likely to become the leading platform for Solana’s native Meme Coin projects, provided it can offer unique advantages and build a reliable reputation. Seedify.fund’s focus on gaming and metaverse projects leaves a gap for a dedicated Solana Meme Coin issuance platform. LaunchLab has the potential to fill this gap by providing customized functionality, leveraging Solana’s specific strengths, and building a community that understands the dynamics of the Solana Meme Coin. To achieve this, LaunchLab needed to clarify its value proposition and demonstrate its commitment to quality and user safety in this specialized market.

4. The evolving relationship between Raydium LaunchLab and Pump.fun

• Trace the historical context of the informal collaboration between Raydium and Pump.fun.

• Pump.fun       is a popular Solana-based Meme coin issuance platform. It initially had an informal partnership with Raydium. Tokens on Pump.fun that reach a certain market value (, US dollars) will have part of their liquidity deposited in the Raydium trading pool and destroyed         .

• Currently, only a few tokens issued on Pump.fun will be transferred to Raydium.

• In the past, Pump.fun's liquidity pool contributed a considerable portion of transaction fee income to Raydium.

• Explain why Pump.fun developed its own AMM.

• Pump.fun is reportedly developing its own automated market maker (AMM) to potentially challenge Raydium's position as the leading decentralized exchange for Meme Coin.

• The move is intended to transfer pump tokens away from Raydium, allowing Pump.fun to earn more fees or introduce new rewards for token holders       .

• By migrating its Meme coins to its own AMM, Pump.fun will vertically integrate the token issuance process and potentially increase its already impressive revenue       .

• X The community speculates that this move may also pave the way for additional features such as Meme coin perpetual contracts and lending.

• Analyze how LaunchLab positions Raydium in the new competitive landscape.

• Raydium launches LaunchLab       clearly indicating that they are unwilling to cede ground to Pump.fun in the Solana DeFi ecosystem, especially in terms of Meme coin issuance.

• LaunchLab       is positioned as a direct competitor to Pump.fun, aiming to redefine the way new tokens are issued and traded on Solana       .

• Raydium aims to provide a platform that not only mimics but also improves upon the functionality of Pump.fun, with enhancements such as custom bonding curves and flexible fees.

• Raydium's core contributors said that LaunchLab is not intended to replace Pump.fun, but to provide more options for teams that do not want to develop contracts themselves and Pump users who prefer Raydium's AMM v for liquidity pool migration.

• Analyze the potential impact on both platforms and the Solana Meme Coin ecosystem.

• Analysts predict that if Pump.fun continues to develop its own AMM, Raydium's trading volume may fall by 5%-10%.

• Raydium       The competition between LaunchLab and Pump.fun is expected to intensify competition in the 2025 DeFi summer, promote innovation and provide more choices for projects and users       .

• Pump.fun’s move could shake up Solana’s DEX landscape, and if it runs its AMM independently, Raydium could feel the pressure, potentially leading to a shift in market leadership.

Pump.fun’s development of its own AMM marks a potentially disruptive change in Solana Meme Coin infrastructure, challenging Raydium’s established position as the primary liquidity provider for these tokens. For a long time, Pump.fun relied on Raydium’s infrastructure for post-launch liquidity. By building its own AMM, Pump.fun aims to control the entire lifecycle of Meme coins from creation to trading. This vertical integration may enable Pump.fun to capture more of the revenue generated by Meme Coin transactions and potentially provide a more smooth and integrated user experience. This development directly challenged Raydium’s previous symbiotic relationship with Pump.fun and necessitated a vigorous competitive response.

LaunchLab represents Raydium’s proactive response to this challenge, aiming to maintain its influence in the Solana Meme Coin market by providing a competing issuance platform with potentially more advanced features and direct access to its existing liquidity. Raydium’s launch of LaunchLab is a strategic response to the prospect of losing a significant amount of trading volume due to Pump.fun’s development of an AMM. By offering features like custom bonding curves and flexible fees, Raydium seeks to appeal to meme coin projects that might prefer more control and a more complex issuance mechanism. Additionally, direct integration with Raydium’s established liquidity pools provides a significant advantage to newly launched AMMs, potentially attracting projects and traders seeking instant and deep liquidity. The move demonstrates Raydium’s determination to continue to be a key player in the Solana DeFi ecosystem.

5. Impact on future MEME market

• Evaluate the potential impact of Raydium      LaunchLab on the Meme coin market.

• Ease of Token Issuance:       LaunchLab and its customizable functionality and integration with existing DEXs may simplify the issuance process of Meme coins on Solana, providing an alternative to Pump.fun’s simpler no-code approach       . This may attract projects seeking more control over issuance parameters.

• Liquidity Provision: Direct integration with Raydium’s deep liquidity pools may result in a more stable and liquid market for newly issued Meme Coins than projects launching on new or less mature AMMs. This reduces the risk of high price slippage faced by early traders.

• Community Engagement:       The features and tools provided by LaunchLab will impact the effectiveness of the Meme Coin project in building and engaging a community on the Solana blockchain. Platforms that facilitate direct interactions and provide community-building tools are more likely to succeed.

• Competition and Innovation:       Direct competition between LaunchLab and Pump.fun may drive innovation in the field of Meme coin issuance platforms, potentially leading to the development of new features, better user experience, and more powerful anti-runaway mechanisms.

• BNB Chain       Meme coin trends as potential indicators: The recent surge in meme coin activity on the BNB chain, driven by factors such as Binance Alpha listing and participation from people like CZ and He Yi, suggests that mature exchanges and their ecosystems have a significant impact on the meme coin market. This suggests that Raydium’s support could provide a similar boost to the Solana Meme Coin market via LaunchLab.

• Solana Technical Advantages: Solana’s high transaction speeds and low Gas       fees make it an attractive platform for high-volume, low-value transactions of Meme coins. LaunchLab’s focus on Solana leverages these strengths.

• Pump.funDemocratizes Meme Coin Creation: Pump.fun's success in making it easy for anyone to create and issue Meme coins has greatly lowered the barrier to entry into the Meme coin market. LaunchLab will need to find its own niche, perhaps by focusing on projects that seek more advanced functionality or tighter integration with the established DeFi ecosystem on Solana.

The launch of LaunchLab is likely to further solidify Solana’s position as a hub for meme coin activity, potentially attracting a different type of creator and trader who prefers the features and integrations offered by Raydium over Pump.fun’s more streamlined approach. While Pump.fun democratizes meme coin creation through its simplicity, LaunchLab’s focus on customization and integration with Raydium’s infrastructure may appeal to more experienced users or projects with specific requirements. This could lead to a more diverse and mature Meme Coin ecosystem on Solana that caters to a wider range of participants. Competition between the two platforms could also drive innovation and further enhance Solana’s appeal as the primary network for meme coin trading and development.

The changing landscape, with established players like Raydium competing directly with emerging platforms like Pump.fun, suggests that the meme coin market may be maturing. This may lead to meme coin issuance focusing more on factors beyond viral hype, such as token economics, community building, and even potential utility, so that meme coins issued on these platforms can achieve sustained success. As the meme coin market grows and attracts more attention, the initial novelty may wear off. By offering more sophisticated tools and integrations, platforms like LaunchLab may encourage creators to think more strategically about their meme coin projects. This could involve a greater focus on building real communities, designing sustainable token economics, or even exploring potential use cases beyond pure speculation, leading to a more nuanced and potentially less volatile meme coin market.

6. Conclusion and Recommendations

This paper summarizes the main findings and highlights the advantages of Raydium LaunchLab, such as its customizable functionality, straightforward liquidity integration, and support from well-known DEXs. The article also points out potential disadvantages, such as the need to build a dedicated Meme Coin community and competition from Pump.fun.

Provide advice for the following:

• Investors: Use caution when participating in Meme coins issued on any platform (including LaunchLab). Conduct thorough research on the project team, token economics, and community sentiment. Recognize the inherently high volatility and speculative nature of Meme Coin. Follow LaunchLab for growth and adoption in the Solana ecosystem.

• Project Developers: If your project requires a specific bonding curve mechanism or aims to immediately gain liquidity on a major DEX, please consider LaunchLab as a viable platform for issuing Meme Coins on Solana. Take advantage of customizable fee structures and integration options. Focus on building a strong and engaged community.

• Raydium: Continue to innovate and enhance the capabilities of LaunchLab to attract projects and users. Focused on building a strong reputation for vetting and supporting high quality Meme Coin issuance. Actively engage with the Solana Meme Coin community and solicit feedback to improve the platform. Follow the strategies and success of Pump.fun and other competing platforms.