Talked about this around the time punch was at aths.. stage 2 is top is gonna look crazy , probably more creators then launch pads atp. I’m seeing more long form creators everyday, some have great ideas.
https://t.co/vMzWqqyDWu
I have organized my thoughts on the fundamental reasons behind the Pump vs. FOMO competition, as well as the current stage of the meme market:
The reason Pump launched the Pump App is that the Solana meme market has already entered its second phase.
Phase 1: Whoever owns the launch infrastructure wins
The first stage of the meme market was dominated by platforms that provided the easiest token creation tools.
The core competition was:
Who can make launching a meme coin easier?
Pumpfun won this stage because it lowered the barrier to entry and became the largest meme launch platform on Solana.
Phase 2: Whoever owns the attention distribution network wins
The competition is now shifting.
The key question is no longer:
“Who can create more tokens?”
Instead, it becomes:
“Who controls attention and distribution?”
Platforms will begin competing for:
KOLs
Call channels
Meme creators
Streamers
CT influencers
This is similar to how YouTube competed for TikTok creators, and TikTok competed for Instagram creators.
FOMO’s strategy directly targets Pump’s biggest weakness.
Pump currently has:
Liquidity
Users
Massive token creation volume
Trading activity
But it lacks:
Meme culture carriers
A strong KOL network
Deep community relationships
This missing piece is exactly why Pump started losing ground in the second phase of the Solana meme market:
the lack of an attention distribution network.
The reason Pepe became Pepe was not because of its technology.
It became successful because:
a group of people continuously spread, remix, and amplify the meme.
The true power of a meme comes from cultural propagation.
This is why Pump launched the Pump App.
The goal is not simply to improve trading.
The deeper goal is to transform trading into content consumption.
Pump wants to become:
TikTok + Robinhood + Twitch for memes.
An ecosystem where users can:
Discover trending memes
Follow successful traders
Engage socially
Trade instantly
The objective is to upgrade Pump from a launch platform into an attention marketplace.
By doing so, Pump is trying to compete for the assets that FOMO has been building:
Early discoverers
KOL networks
Alpha call users
The ultimate goal is to connect the three most important layers:
Discovery + Social + Trading
The reason many Pumpfun tokens fail to graduate successfully is also related to this missing infrastructure.
Without strong social distribution and cultural momentum, most tokens lack the ability to spread organically.
Looking ahead, I believe the third phase of the meme market will belong to platforms that successfully combine:
KOL networks
Meme creators
Communities
AI agents
Data analytics
The winner will not simply be the platform that creates the most tokens.
The winner will be the platform that can discover, amplify, and turn cultural emotions into scalable meme movements.
This is also why it makes sense that Pump is now competing for FOMO’s creators and influencers.
We're hiring a Growth Marketing Lead for Baton Corporation, the development company behind Pump fun.
Pump fun grew into one of the largest crypto platforms in history with almost no paid marketing. Now we want to take it mainstream - from crypto product to an app hundreds of millions of people use - and we're looking for someone hungry to make that happen.
You're an experienced operator who has managed multi-million dollar budgets scaling consumer apps with digital ads, UGC, and clipping strategies, and you'll build the team to do it at scale.
We're offering $400k - $1m base salary + incentives.
This is an in-house role, so please don't reach out to pitch your agency!
If this is you, apply below.