Pump.fun is changing the rules of its own economy, and the market response suggests traders approve. A planned overhaul of how fees are distributed on the Solana-based launch platform has shifted attention away from creators and toward trading activity — a pivot that immediately lifted the price of its PUMP token.

Data from TradingView shows PUMP rising close to 11% shortly after the platform confirmed that changes to its creator fee system are coming, pushing the token back into focus after a quieter period.

Key Takeaways

• Pump.fun is redesigning its fee system to favor trading activity over token issuance

• The platform admits the old creator fee model weakened liquidity and price discovery

• PUMP jumped nearly 11% as traders reacted positively to the planned changes 

A model that boosted growth, then hit its limits

Pump.fun’s earlier fee experiments were built around rewarding creators. The idea was straightforward: attract better projects by giving token issuers a share of platform fees. That approach initially worked. Token launches surged, on-chain volume climbed, and overall activity across Pump.fun’s bonding curves reached record levels during 2025.

The platform also benefited from a wave of attention beyond retail users. At one point, even a Nasdaq-listed company, Fitell, added PUMP to a Solana-based treasury strategy, highlighting how far the ecosystem’s reach had expanded.

But behind the growth numbers, a structural issue emerged. According to the Pump.fun team, the fee incentives favored constant issuance over meaningful trading. Tokens were easy to launch, but many lacked sustained liquidity, leaving markets shallow and price discovery weak.

Why Pump.fun is pivoting toward traders

Liquidity is the lifeblood of any trading platform, and Pump.fun now appears focused on protecting it. The team acknowledged that when trading slows, confidence erodes quickly — regardless of how many tokens exist.

Co-founder Alon has been blunt about the shortcomings of the old setup, arguing that creator fees had little long-term utility and rarely translated into durable value for projects. In practice, many teams struggled to use those fees effectively once initial hype faded.

As a result, Pump.fun is moving toward a system where the market — not the platform — decides who deserves rewards.

What the new approach aims to change

Under the upcoming framework, traders will play a larger role in determining which projects benefit from fees. Instead of automatic payouts tied to token creation, fee distribution will become optional and community-driven.

Creators and CTO administrators will be able to assign fee percentages through the Pump.fun app, but the platform’s core team will not take any share. Pump.fun has emphasized that this is a community feature, designed to rebalance incentives between builders and traders rather than enrich insiders.

The company has not released a detailed timeline, only stating that the changes will be significant and explained in more depth later.

A market reaction before the details

Even without full technical specifics, traders appear comfortable with the direction. That confidence was reflected in PUMP’s price move, which lifted the token to around $0.0024 on the day of the announcement.

The rally suggests that market participants see value in a model that prioritizes liquidity and participation over rapid, low-friction issuance. It also builds on earlier trust-building steps from Pump.fun, including a previously announced PUMP buyback.

A broader shift in platform philosophy

Pump.fun’s decision highlights a common challenge for crypto platforms: growth driven by incentives can distort behavior if not carefully balanced. By stepping back from creator-first rewards and leaning into market-driven outcomes, Pump.fun is effectively betting that fewer, better-traded tokens are healthier than endless launches with thin liquidity.

Whether the new fee structure delivers that outcome remains to be seen. For now, the market’s verdict is clear — traders are willing to give the platform time to prove that this shift can translate into a more resilient ecosystem.