BonkFun Removes Creator Fees With BONK Classic to Compete With Pump.fun

BonkFun has rolled out a major overhaul to its token launch model as it looks to regain traction in Solana’s increasingly competitive meme coin launchpad market. The platform announced that it has removed creator fees entirely for a new launch format called “BONK Classic,” marking a sharp shift in its economic design.

Under the Classic structure, projects launching on BonkFun will pay zero creator fees, while traders incur a 0.30% swap fee. Unlike previous models, most of this fee is redirected back into liquidity pools rather than distributed to token creators. The platform says the goal is to deepen liquidity, reduce slippage, and create a more trader-friendly environment.

Addressing Fee Fatigue Among Traders

BonkFun’s team acknowledged that rising creator fees had become a growing point of frustration within the meme coin community. According to the platform, the new approach is meant to better align incentives between traders and the protocol by removing creator profit from trading activity altogether.

The Classic model prioritizes execution quality over creator revenue, a setup that closely mirrors the fee mechanics used in Raydium-based meme coin launches during 2024, a period when several Solana tokens briefly reached billion-dollar market capitalizations.

Two Launch Models, Two Economic Paths

Despite the shift, BonkFun is not abandoning creator monetization entirely. The platform will continue to offer a second launch option known as “BONKERS,” designed for teams that prefer ongoing revenue streams.

BONKERS launches feature:

• Swap fees reduced by up to 50%
• Customizable creator fee percentages
• Rewards paid exclusively in a single quote asset, such as a USD-pegged stablecoin

By consolidating rewards into one asset, BonkFun aims to simplify payouts and eliminate the complexity of its previous dual-token reward system.

From Rapid Rise to Competitive Pressure

BonkFun debuted in April 2025 through a collaboration between the BONK community and Raydium, quickly emerging as a popular no-code token creation platform on Solana. The initial response was explosive, with more than 2,700 tokens launched within the first 72 hours.

The platform generated roughly $800,000 in fees during its first week, helping drive a 50% surge in the BONK token price. At its peak in July 2025, BonkFun accounted for over 55% of all token launches on Solana, temporarily overtaking Pump.fun.

Pump.fun Regains the Lead

Recent market data, however, shows that Pump.fun has reclaimed dominance in the launchpad space. Over the past 24 hours alone, Pump.fun recorded close to 30,000 new token launches, with trading volume exceeding $109 million and daily fees topping $1.27 million.

This resurgence appears to have forced BonkFun’s strategic pivot, as traders increasingly favor platforms with lower costs and deeper liquidity.

BONK Market Reaction

At the time of writing, BONK is trading near $0.00001116, up 0.74% on the day. Trading activity has accelerated sharply, with volume jumping approximately 86% to over $300 million, signaling renewed interest following the platform’s announcement.

As competition intensifies, BonkFun’s zero-fee Classic model represents a clear bet that liquidity-first economics—rather than creator incentives—will determine the next phase of dominance in Solana’s meme coin launch ecosystem.