Cumulative revenue exceeds $520 million.
The total number of deployed tokens is approximately 7.41 million.
The number of users is 7.41 million.
These are the data accumulated by Pump.fun in just one year. It can be said that Pump.fun's leading position and revenue performance in the Mmme track are very similar to the unparalleled OpenSea in 2021. Both of them seized the opportunity and trend in the Meme and NFT tracks, and quickly rose to become an almost irreplicable success model.
Pump.fun's Token Release Model: Dutch Auction Causes Outrage
On February 9, Wu Blockchain reported that Pump.fun is preparing to issue tokens and conduct a public offering, and will adopt the Dutch auction model, and is cooperating with a centralized exchange to develop the system.
Earlier, Binance co-founder He Yi also mentioned the use of the Dutch auction innovative token IEO model in an AMA.
The detailed explanation of the Dutch auction comes from KOL He Bi: Because the project is huge and has high requirements, the public offering systems of major exchanges currently do not meet the needs of Pump.fun, and almost all domestic first, second and third-tier exchanges are developing a Dutch auction system for Pump.fun. And it is currently known that the tokens will not have an airdrop, with 50% of the tokens being Dutch auctioned.
So far, no relevant exchange has released more details about the cooperation and customization. However, the news has caused a huge uproar among retail investors. Of course, it is a win-win situation for Pump.fun to issue tokens while making such huge profits, and to give airdrops to retail investors. But the problem lies in the Dutch auction model, as retail investors not only cannot obtain airdrop benefits, but also need to participate in the more intense Dutch auction competition. The investment cost of retail investors is most likely not low, but the risk of obtaining benefits is also increasing. At this stage, Pump.fun's Dutch auction model is more like a bloodthirsty and greedy sale.
Pump.fun Co-founder Alon Responds: Token Issuance is Misinformation
As the news of Pump.fun's token issuance continued to ferment, Pump.fun's co-founder Alon posted on social media saying: "Seeing rumors about a possible Pump.fun token launch, these are misinformation. It is recommended not to believe any information that is not published by the Pump.fun Official Twitter. In the past year of development, the Pump.fun team has mainly focused on improving the product, but has always been committed to giving users the due return, good things take time."
However, some netizens believe that recent lawsuits against Pump.fun in multiple places in the US may affect whether it will ultimately issue tokens. Perhaps Pump.fun will wait for a period of time and choose the right time to issue tokens, or it may also modify the token economic model due to dissatisfaction with the "Dutch auction model", reserving a portion for airdrops.
Will OpenSea Issue Tokens: Listing or Issuing Tokens? Struggling and Hesitating
At the peak, although OpenSea did not profit from GAS, the high 2.5% commission fee allowed OS to earn abundantly. In 2022, many people believe that OpenSea, after raising $130 million in financing, is unlikely to issue tokens and is more likely to raise funds through an IPO.
However, with the subsequent sharp decline in revenue, OpenSea faced the dilemma of dying without issuing tokens, as giving back to users and the community is a tradition of Web3. In the past, Uni was forced to issue tokens by Sushi to regain the lost users, and OpenSea is also facing the risk of losing a large number of users to Blur if it does not issue tokens.
Finally, on November 4, 2024, we saw a glimpse of whether OpenSea would issue tokens. OpenSea's official Twitter announced that it would launch a "brand new OpenSea" in December and opened a site for registering test addresses, with more than 700,000 addresses on the waiting list so far.
But just yesterday (February 11), according to an official announcement from the OpenSea Foundation: the rumors on the X platform today are not true, and users are reminded to only trust the links published by the official account to avoid being deceived. Previously, there were rumors about OpenSea's TGE, but the official has clearly denied it.
Summary
The rise of Pump.fun and OpenSea is more dependent on market environment, product strength, first-mover advantage and other factors, but their subsequent development is more dependent on the contribution of investor commissions. When retail investors hope to get platform feedback, if the platform's strategy does not meet the expectations of retail investors, or even goes against the trend, it may further prove the principle of "he who wins the hearts of the people will win the world". Because the community expects a win-win carnival, not just the platform making a fortune!
