What is a meme coin? How meme coins launch, what they cost and how many survive
A meme coin is a crypto token “inspired by internet memes, characters, current events, or trends”, in the words of the US SEC staff statement on meme coins of 27 February 2025. Anyone can create one on a launchpad: on 30 Sep 2026 (UTC), MemeFees counted at least 48,391 new tokens on pump.fun alone.
Definition quoted from the SEC staff statement, checked 1 Oct 2026. Fee shares come from DefiLlama. Launch counts and survival come from the MemeFees engine and the memecoin survival study.
What is a meme coin in crypto?
The US SEC Division of Corporation Finance described meme coins in a staff statement on 27 February 2025. The table quotes that description word for word.
- What it is based on
- “inspired by internet memes, characters, current events, or trends”
- Who it is for
- “attract an enthusiastic online community to purchase the meme coin and engage in its trading”
- Why people buy it
- “for entertainment, social interaction, and cultural purposes”
- What sets its value
- “driven primarily by market demand and speculation”
- What it can do
- “limited or no use or functionality”
Source: SEC staff statement on meme coins, 27 February 2025, checked . A staff statement is a view of SEC staff. It has no legal force.
How do meme coins work? From launchpad to DEX pool
- Create. A creator opens a launchpad, enters a name, a ticker and an image, and signs one transaction. The create guide lists the steps and the cost on each launchpad.
- Trade on the curve. On most launchpads, a bonding curve sells the new coin. Each buy raises the price and each sell lowers it.
- Graduate. When the curve ends, the coin graduates. On pump.fun this happens “when all 793.1 million curve tokens are sold”, and the coin then trades in a PumpSwap pool.
Where meme coins launch today: launchpad share of fees
| Launchpad | Chains | Fees, 30 days | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| PonsStats | Robinhood Chain | $137.06M | 41.5% |
| pump.funStats | Solana | $46.41M | 14.0% |
| Flap.shStats | BSC | $41.67M | 12.6% |
| FOMO | Solana, Base, BSC, Monad, Ethereum, Robinhood Chain | $34.97M | 10.6% |
| Raydium LaunchLab | Solana | $9.81M | 3.0% |
| LetsBONK.funStats | Solana | $8.43M | 2.6% |
| NOXA Fun | MegaETH, Monad, Stable, Robinhood Chain | $2.77M | 0.8% |
| Pools | Robinhood Chain, Arc | $982.9K | 0.3% |
| LetsCash | Robinhood Chain | $780.2K | 0.2% |
| Virtuals Protocol | Base, Solana, Robinhood Chain | $615.5K | 0.2% |
| Clanker | Base, Arbitrum, Unichain, Ethereum, Monad | $521.1K | 0.2% |
| BagsStats | Solana, Robinhood Chain | $416.6K | 0.1% |
| four.memeStats | BSC | $215.2K | 0.1% |
| Moonshot | Solana | $77.1K | <0.1% |
| Jupiter Studio | Solana | $64.3K | <0.1% |
| Zora | Base, Robinhood Chain, Solana | $11.6K | <0.1% |
| Believe | Solana | $549 | <0.1% |
| Other counted sources | $45.69M | 13.8% |
Share of $330.49M in 30-day fees across all 184 counted launchpad sources, per DefiLlama, to 1 Oct 2026. Settlement layers are counted inside the launchpads built on them and have no share. The share measures trading fees. The next section counts launches. The market share page shows the daily history.
How many meme coins are created per day?
| Launchpad | New tokens, 30 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|
| pump.funStats | at least 48,391 |
| Flap.shStats | 29,448 |
| PonsStats | 6,931 |
| BagsStats | at least 297 |
| Pools | 79 |
| Virtuals Protocol | at least 26 |
| LetsCash | 11 |
| NOXA Fun | at least 0 |
| Launchpads with a count | at least 85,183 |
One closed UTC day, counted by the MemeFees engine. “At least” marks a lower bound: the pump.fun feed can miss a few launches. Clanker, four.meme, Jupiter Studio, LetsBONK.fun, Moonshot, Raydium LaunchLab, Zora come from sampled feeds, so this table shows no number for them and the real total is higher. The launches page shows every day.
How many meme coins survive after graduation?
- At or above the graduation market cap after 24 hours
- 9.2%
- of 21,426 measured graduates, 3 Sep 2026 to 30 Sep 2026
- At or above the graduation market cap after 7 days
- 2.9%
- of 5,274 measured graduates, 3 Sep 2026 to 24 Sep 2026
From the memecoin survival study 2026, which gives the method, the sample per launchpad and the limits. Tokens that never graduated are not in these shares.
How much does it cost to make a meme coin?
The platform fee to create is often zero. four.meme, NOXA Fun, pump.fun and Zora charge no platform fee to create a token. Every chain still charges a network fee for the create transaction. The pump.fun fee to create:
“0 SOL or 0 USDC”pump.fun fee schedule (updated 20 May 2026), checked
Trading fees start with the first trade. The meme coin launch cost guide compares the cost and the create steps on each launchpad. The pump.fun fee calculator shows the fee on a trade of any size.
Risks and limits of this page
- The SEC staff statement says meme coins tend to have “significant market price volatility”.
- The same statement says fraud linked to meme coins can still lead to action under other federal and state laws.
- This page explains how meme coins work. It does not name coins to buy and it is not investment, legal or tax advice.
What the data says about meme coins today
A launchpad lets anyone create a meme coin: the creator enters a name, a ticker and an image, and signs one transaction. Of the nine launchpads that MemeFees compares in its guides, six sell each new token on a bonding curve until it graduates to a DEX pool (pump.fun, LetsBONK.fun, Bags, four.meme, Flap.sh and Raydium LaunchLab), and NOXA Fun and LetsCash put the token in a pool at launch. Four launchpads charge no platform fee to create a token: four.meme, NOXA Fun, pump.fun and Zora. The network fee still applies.
Launchpads charge a fee on each trade, so fees show where meme coins trade. In the 30 days to 1 Oct 2026, the 184 launchpad sources that MemeFees counts earned $330.49M in fees per DefiLlama. Pons took 41.5% of that total, followed by pump.fun with 14% and Flap.sh with 12.6%. A fee share measures trading, so a launchpad with fewer launches can earn more fees when its tokens trade more.
On 30 Sep 2026 (UTC), the MemeFees engine counted at least 48,391 new tokens on pump.fun. Other launchpads with a published count added 29,448 on Flap.sh, 6,931 on Pons, at least 297 on Bags, 79 on Pools, at least 26 on Virtuals Protocol, 11 on LetsCash and at least 0 on NOXA Fun. The pump.fun feed can miss a few launches, so its count is a lower bound. Clanker, four.meme, Jupiter Studio, LetsBONK.fun, Moonshot, Raydium LaunchLab and Zora come from feeds that see only part of their launches, so they have no number here and the real daily total is higher.
Of 21,426 graduated meme coins that MemeFees measured (graduations from 3 Sep 2026 to 30 Sep 2026), 9.2% traded at or above their graduation market cap 24 hours later, and 90.8% traded below it. After 7 days, 2.9% of 5,274 measured graduates were at or above that level. Tokens that never graduated are not in these figures.
Frequently asked questions
What is a meme coin in crypto?
A meme coin is a crypto token "inspired by internet memes, characters, current events, or trends". That is the description in the SEC staff statement on meme coins of 27 February 2025. The promoter tries to "attract an enthusiastic online community to purchase the meme coin and engage in its trading".
How do meme coins work?
A creator makes the coin on a launchpad. On six of the nine launchpads that MemeFees compares, a bonding curve sells the new coin and sets its price from the amount sold. On pump.fun, the curve ends "when all 793.1 million curve tokens are sold", and the coin then trades in a PumpSwap pool.
What is a meme coin used for?
The SEC staff statement says meme coins usually have "limited or no use or functionality". People usually buy them "for entertainment, social interaction, and cultural purposes", and their value is "driven primarily by market demand and speculation".
How many meme coins are created per day?
On 30 Sep 2026 (UTC), MemeFees counted at least 48,391 new tokens on pump.fun alone, and at least 85,183 across the eight launchpads with a published count. Launchpads with sampled feeds are left out, so the real total is higher.
Which meme coin launchpad is the largest?
By fees, Pons. It earned 41.5% of the 30-day fees across 184 counted launchpad sources, per DefiLlama data to 1 Oct 2026.
Do most meme coins fail?
Of 21,426 graduated meme coins that MemeFees measured, 90.8% traded below their graduation market cap 24 hours after graduation. Tokens that never graduated are not in this figure.
How much does it cost to make a meme coin?
The platform fee to create can be zero. four.meme, NOXA Fun, pump.fun and Zora charge no platform fee to create a token, and pump.fun's fee to create is 0 SOL or 0 USDC. Every chain still charges a network fee for the transaction.
Are meme coins legal?
Laws differ by country. In the United States, the SEC Division of Corporation Finance said on 27 February 2025 that the types of meme coins it described are not securities. The statement is a staff view with no legal force, and fraud linked to meme coins can still lead to action under other laws. This answer is general information. It is not legal advice.
Are meme coins a good investment?
This page is general information. It is not investment advice. The SEC staff statement says meme coins tend to have "significant market price volatility". The survival figures on this page show what happened to graduated tokens after 24 hours and 7 days.
Related data and guides
- Memecoin survival study 2026
- Memecoin launches per day
- Launchpad market share
- Best memecoin launchpads by fees
- Launchpad directory
- pump.fun fee calculator
- pump.fun stats: launches, graduations, fees and revenue
- LetsBONK.fun stats: launches, graduations, fees and revenue
- Bags stats: launches, graduations, fees and revenue
- four.meme stats: launches, graduations, fees and revenue
- Flap.sh stats: launches, fees and revenue
- Pons stats: launches, fees and revenue
- What is a bonding curve?
- Memecoin graduation explained
- How to create a meme coin (steps and cost)
- How memecoin launchpads make money
- Creator fees and rewards compared
- Memecoin success rate after graduation
- How to find new meme coins early
- Memecoin launchpad glossary
Fee facts are quoted from each launchpad's own documentation, with the date we last checked it. Fees and revenue come from DefiLlama; launch, graduation and survival figures come from the MemeFees engine (see the methodology). MemeFees is independent and not affiliated with any launchpad on this page. This page is general information. It is not financial advice.