Photon and Zora are rolling out new features while Heaven and Pumpfun dominate the launchpad wars.
Memecoin trading volumes continue to decline, but trading platforms and launchpads are still pushing the envelope with new features and upgrades.
Trading bot platform Photon unveiled its new bundle and send feature on Aug. 21, giving traders a new mechanism for multi-wallet trading that it claims reduces the chances of being copy traded. The new feature is likely aimed at regaining market share after its main competitor, Axiom, leapfrogged Photon in terms of activity and profitability earlier this year, despite Photon being the dominant memecoin trading platform in 2024.
Meanwhile, content launchpad Zora recently announced tokenized video shorts, expanding the platform’s versatility.
Amidst the new activations, the launchpad warsare ongoing, with the new Heaven DEX asserting itself as the second busiest token launchpad over the last 24 hours, according to Dune Analytics.
While Heaven launched nearly six times as many tokens as LetsBonk over the last day, Pumpfun still dominates the market, accounting for almost 75% of total Solana memecoins yesterday.
Trading volume on Solana continues to be lackluster compared to its January peak, driven by the mania surrounding the TRUMP memecoin launch, but it remains higher than last summer.
With one week left in August, Solana DEX volume is on track to hit roughly $100 billion this month, after $117 billion in July. However, these numbers are dwarfed by January’s $262 billion.
While the numbers are an improvement compared to Q3 2024, one might expect higher volumes given that controversial rap artist, Kanye West, dropped his “official memecoin” on Aug 20. The YZY token quickly surged to a $3.2 billion valuation and has been slowly bleeding lower since.
Skeptics can’t be bothered to speculate on the token due to a number of factors, including the manner and timing of the launch and the YZY token’s website claiming that it will launch a “YZY Card” for crypto payments.
Curiously, some pointed out that the token launched mere hours after Hayden Davis and Ben Chow, two figures behind the LIBRA memecoin scandal, had their funds unfrozen by the court system.