Pump.fun vs. Moonshot: Where to Launch Your Next Solana Meme Coin

DEX Screener launched Moonshot last week as a direct rival to Solana meme coin factory Pump.fun. Both platforms aim to offer an easy way to launch crypto tokens.

Although broadly similar, both platforms have their own unique perks and quirks that may see users lean towards one platform or another.

Pump.fun launched at the beginning of the year, soon it was used to create huge tokens like Michi, Billy, and a slew of celebrity meme coins from the likes of Caitlyn Jenner and Jason Derulo. It’s also been the starting point for a wide array of political meme tokens inspired by the likes of Trump and Biden. Not to mention the degenerate livestream meta. Pump.fun undoubtedly has a first-movers' advantage.

As for Moonshot, it’s only a week old—but it has quickly caught the attention of the industry. DEX Screener was an already established tool in the meme coin space, and is attempting to funnel users into its new offering.

We compared the two meme coin creation protocols to help determine which is the best place for you to launch your next viral token.

Security

One of the biggest selling points for DEX Screener is its focus on security and transparency. DEX Screener says that its launchpad ensures that all smart contracts launched on the platform are fully audited.

This comes after Pump.fun was hacked by a purported ex-employee who claimed the protocol had numerous security flaws, raising concerns within the community.

DEX Screener shared the protocol’s audit with Decrypt. It was then shared with security experts to explain the findings.

“[The audit] identified several critical and high-severity vulnerabilities, such as missing input validation and incorrect fee calculations, which have now been addressed in a timely manner.” James Shuman, head of security at Horizen Labs, told Decrypt, “These findings are legitimate and well-documented, with clear recommendations for improvement.”

This is normal and what security audits are for, finding vulnerabilities for you to improve on. The audit was carried out by Ackee Blockchain dated June 17. While DEX Screener has acted upon the found vulnerabilities, the report raised concern regarding the protocol’s dependency on crypto payments company Helio.

“Helio’s role involves managing the transaction authorization and fund migration process, this includes, moving assets onto external platforms like Raydium,” Suman explained. “This intermediary role does assist in maintaining the integrity and security of the transactions, but it also introduces a dependency on Helio's reliability and trustworthiness.”

By relying on Helio to ensure transactions are valid and transfer funds to Raydium, the protocol becomes more consistent and more secure in some ways. But, it creates a single point of failure that could be compromised.

There is no information or security audit regarding Pump.fun so security experts could not comment on if a similar system is in place over there.

Everyday safety measures

As for security measures that everyday investors can exercise themselves, Pump.fun recently implemented blockchain visualizer Bubblemaps into the protocol. This allows investors to see how much individual wallets hold, and which wallets have interacted with each other. Equally, you can see the holder distribution in list form, as well as a list of the trades made on the site.

DEX Screener has similar features, with a list of holders and recent trades, but the latter may be more reliable as Pump.fun appears to only record trades made through the protocol.

Ease of meme coin launches

Pump.fun saw success mostly due to how easy it was to launch tokens on the platform. All you have to do is fill in your desired token name, ticker, description, and attach a photo before you pay 0.02 SOL ($3) to bring it to life.

This isn’t any different than using Moonshot, even down to the fee you pay to launch. Both platforms let you add social media accounts to your token page, although Moonshot allows you to add more links. Again, both protocols give you the option to buy an initial portion of the tokens.

In this category, both platforms appear nearly identical in functionality. Simply connect your wallet, fill in the short form, and pray your meme coin reaches the moon.

Tokenomics

On Pump.fun, tokens must reach a market capitalization of approximately $60,000 for the bonding curve to be fulfilled, which thus leads to the token being launched on Solana decentralized exchange Raydium. This is the primary goal for every newly launched token on the platform, potentially reaching many more traders in the process.

As for Moonshot, tokens must reach a market cap of 500 SOL ($73,000) before the project migrates to Raydium. This is slightly higher than Pump.fun. But the way it works on Moonshot, the platform will automatically burn 150 million to 200 million tokens to create a deflationary effect that could boost the token’s value over time.

But take note: It's still unclear what determines the exact amount of tokens burned.

Neither platform allows token pre-sales and both cap the meme coin token supply at 1 billion.

Aesthetic and history

When it comes to meme coins, tokenomics often feels secondary to aesthetic and cultural relevance.

Due to being the first mover, Pump.fun has a natural advantage when it comes to its place in crypto culture. In addition to this, the protocol embraces the degenerate side of crypto with the site looking similar to a 4chan board—especially its message thread.

Conversely, Moonshot leans more into the digital native nature of the platform, opting for a Monster Energy-like color palette full of neon green. This, combined with the site's rounded edges and modern buttons, makes the site look a bit more clean and professional in comparison to Pump.fun’s all-out degen vibes.

On Pump.fun, you can sort and order every token on the platform how you please, from the last reply to the highest market cap. You have five options for sorting listings on Moonshot, but not one that allows you to sort tokens by their market cap.

It's a feature that, on Pump.fun, makes it easy to see the platform has been the launchpad for tons of successful meme coin projects, including Michi, Iggy Azalea’s MOTHER, and Shark Cat.

As for Moonshot, it’s hard to tell. One of the most successful tokens from the platform thus far is FIRST, with a $1.2 million market cap. For the sake of comparison, Pump.fun-launched Michi has a market cap of $140 million.

Stats compared

Let’s get nerdy with it and compare stats.

Since its launch, Pump.fun has been used to generate a whopping 1.2 million meme coins, while Moonshot has launched 26,000 on behalf of users, according to Dune dashboard data. It’s important to remember that Moonshot launched last week, whereas Pump.fun opened its doors at the start of the year.

Comparing the daily stats, Pump.fun still dwarfs Moonshot, launching 9,000 tokens on Sunday compared to Moonshot’s 1,700 tokens.

This obviously translates into revenue, with Pump.fun bringing in $600,000 while Moonshot made only $80,000, according to DeFi Llama. Pump.fun clearly takes the cake in this category. It’s currently the 11th most profitable protocol on DeFi Llama, so this is no surprise.

The two platforms see eye-to-eye on most things. Pump.fun leads in some categories right now, mostly due to its first mover advantage, while Moonshot is attempting to be the more polished platform claiming to have better security. It’s similarly easy to launch Solana tokens on both platforms, so play around with them and see which offers the best fit.

Editor's note: This story was updated on July 9 to acknowledge that DEX Screener shared an audit report with Decrypt and add commentary on it from a security expert.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.