RAY Soars 13% with Raydium’s LaunchLab Debut on Solana

Raydium, a leading decentralized exchange (DEX) and automated market maker (AMM) on the Solana blockchain, officially launched LaunchLab on April 16, 2025. It has positively impacted $RAY’s price and the Solana ecosystem, driving increased activity and innovation. Explore Raydium’s LaunchLab now and participate in cutting-edge projects and opportunities.

What is LaunchLab?

LaunchLab is a token launchpad platform designed to compete with Pump.fun, a popular Solana-based memecoin launch platform. It aims to simplify token creation and distribution for developers, creators, and the broader Solana ecosystem. 

Raydium’s LaunchLab introduces a suite of innovative features designed to streamline and secure token launches on Solana. Creators can leverage customizable bonding curves to set token sale amounts, enabling dynamic pricing that adapts to market demand. The platform’s no-code interface offers flexibility with two modes: “JustSendIt” for quick launches with default settings and “LaunchLab” for tailored options like token supply, vesting, and distribution.

Free token launches make the platform accessible, allowing anyone to create a token, with liquidity automatically migrating to Raydium’s AMM pool upon reaching targets like 85 $SOL in JustSendIt mode.

To ensure trust, liquidity locking or burning post-migration minimizes rug pull risks. LaunchLab’s fee structure includes a 1% transaction fee, split as 50% to a community pool, 25% for $RAY buybacks, and 25% for infrastructure and operations. Additionally, token creators benefit from a post-migration fee share, claiming 10% of LP fees from AMM pool trades, incentivizing long-term project engagement.

Competitive Dynamics: LaunchLab’s Response to Pump.fun

The launch of LaunchLab is a strategic response to competitive pressures, particularly from Pump.fun, which had been a significant revenue driver for Raydium. Pump.fun announced its own AMM (PumpSwap) in March 2025, reducing its reliance on Raydium’s liquidity pools. Previously, Pump.fun tokens reaching a $69,000 market cap would migrate to Raydium for trading, contributing ~41% of Raydium’s swap fee revenue.

According to DefiLlama, PumpSwap’s debut, with over $31.7 billion in trading volume in just 10 days, increased the fierce competition with Raydium.

Moreover, with Pump.fun’s shift to PumpSwap, Raydium faced a potential loss of its revenue. LaunchLab aims to capture token launch activity and maintain Raydium’s dominance as Solana’s top DEX.

Therefore, LaunchLab aims to recapture token launch activity and reinforce Raydium’s dominance in Solana’s ecosystem. Beyond competition, it reflects Raydium’s vision to transition from a liquidity provider to a broader “ecosystem infrastructure builder,” supporting diverse, long-term projects with many key differences from Pump.fun, including:

• Flexibility: LaunchLab offers advanced customization (bonding curves, vesting, fee-sharing) compared to Pump.fun’s aesthetic-only changes.
• Integration: LaunchLab connects directly to Raydium’s AMM, while Pump.fun now uses PumpSwap.
• Focus: LaunchLab supports all token types, not just memecoins, and aims for long-term project sustainability, addressing Pump.fun’s criticism for enabling pump-and-dump schemes.

LaunchLab’s Immediate Effect: $RAY and $SOL Price Surge

The LaunchLab announcement catalyzed a 13% spike in RAY, just over 1 hour after the news, reaching ~$2.43 with a market cap exceeding $680 million. Trading volume surged 80% to $264.08 million in 24 hours. The launch and 25% fee allocation for $RAY buybacks might support this bullish sentiment. 

Learn more: Solana Price Prediction

For SOL, the direct impact is also immediate, with the price increasing 4.16% to $131 today. This spike is because of the belief in LaunchLab’s potential to drive ecosystem activity through new token launches and increased transactions, which could bolster $SOL’s value over time by enhancing Solana’s network usage.

While the initial market reaction has been positive, LaunchLab demonstrates significant potential beyond immediate price movements. Its focus on broader token types, long-term sustainability features, and direct integration with Raydium’s ecosystem positions it as a platform whose long-term impact on both Raydium and the wider Solana network is highly anticipated.