BonkFun has rolled out a new incentive structure aimed squarely at traders, marking another step in how Solana’s meme coin launchpads are quietly reshaping who gets rewarded.
The rollout of new features on Bonkfun shows a deeper infrastructure shift, highlighting growing competition among meme launchpads as rival Pumpfun also pushes through its own structural changes.
The update, announced on X, introduces “Winners Arc,” a weekly trading competition that will distribute $200,000 to the most profitable traders on supported USD1 pairs via Axiom Exchange.
Introducing Winners Arc.
— BONK.fun (@bonkfun) January 19, 2026
Rewarding the best Solana traders with the biggest weekly trading rewards
This is how we’re helping the best trenchers win morepic.twitter.com/6eviqoQ1hN
Rather than focusing on creators or deployers, the program ranks participants by realized profit and pays the top 50 traders each week directly on Axiom.
The structure involves traders operating on supported USD1 pairs during the active reward window and finishing the week with positive realized PnL.
The size of the prize pool, combined with the explicit focus on trading skill rather than token creation, signals a clear shift in priorities.
BonkFun described the launch as its first concrete step toward “putting trenchers first,” a phrase that has increasingly defined its recent messaging.
BonkFun COO Solport Tom framed the move as part of a broader reset. He said the team had spent months reworking its systems to address what it saw as structural problems, particularly around creator fees.
Ok, it’s time to officially step back into the trenches. We’ve been working fucking hard these past few months on how to be competitive and how to achieve results again.
— Tom (@SolportTom) January 19, 2026
Last week, we changed our system to fix core issues with creator fees. This week, we’ve officially teamed up… https://t.co/bpnQ7kAG5S
Tom noted that the partnership with Axiom and the weekly rewards are meant to make BonkFun competitive again after a period where incentives drifted away from active traders.
User reactions show that framing, with some welcoming the return of a leaderboard that makes performance visible and others joking about returning to near-round-the-clock trading.
Just last week, BonkFun announced “BONK Classic” launches with zero creator fees and a reduced 0.30% swap fee, most of which is routed back into liquidity.
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) January 14, 2026
@bonkfun is rolling out 2 options on meme coin launch incentives: BONK Classic with zero creator fees and BONKERS with USD-1 only creator rewards, as competition with @Pumpfun intensifies#Solana #BONK #memecoinhttps://t.co/3dB688Usxa
BonkFun kept an alternative option through its “BONKERS” launches, where creator fees can be higher but swap fees are reduced, giving communities a choice between trader-first and creator-first economics.
This trader-centric turn stands in contrast to Pump.fun, which continues to emphasize creator economics even as it introduces new features.
Earlier in January, Pump.fun overhauled its creator fee system, allowing fees to be split across multiple wallets and adjusting how they scale with market capitalization.
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) January 9, 2026
While the team acknowledged that past incentives skewed too heavily toward low-risk coin creation, it has stopped short of removing creator fees altogether.
The divergence is visible in the data, as over the past 24 hours, Pump.fun saw more than 24,500 tokens created, compared with about 3,290 on BonkFun.
Pump.fun also led in volume, active addresses, and fee generation by a wide margin.
Yet BonkFun’s changes suggest it is less focused on raw issuance numbers and more on re-attracting experienced traders through lower friction and direct rewards.
Taken together, the developments point to a subtle but deliberate shift in the meme coin launchpad landscape.
BonkFun is betting that rewarding traders and reducing creator extraction will rebuild engagement from the trading side.
Pump.fun is maintaining its creator-driven model while layering in funding, social features, and structural tweaks.
The competition has not turned overt, but the incentives on each platform are moving in different directions, reshaping the playfield without openly declaring a fight.
The post Bonkbot Shifts Meme Coin Incentives to Traders With 200K Reward as Pump.fun Keeps Creator Fees appeared first on Cryptonews.
Pump.fun, the memecoins launchpad, has opened an investment arm called Pump Fund and kicked off a public hackathon to seed early projects. It put $3 million on the table to back a batch of new teams. Twelve winners will get $250,000 each at a $10 million valuation as part of the first program.
Under the new plan, funding won’t come from pitch rooms or closed-door panels. According to the platform, projects will be chosen largely by market activity and community traction — real token demand will be the main signal.
That means teams are expected to build in public, mint tokens, and show early user interest instead of relying on traditional venture checks. Mentorship from Pump.fun’s founders is also part of the package.
Today, we announce Pump Fund
It will advance the startup ecosystem on pump fun by aligning itself with projects long-term.
The fund’s first initiative is the BiP Hackathon which will fund 12 projects with $250k @ $10m val, giving mentorship with pump fun’s founders & much more
— Pump.fun (@Pumpfun) January 19, 2026
Reports say participating teams must issue a token and disclose development steps openly. Some posts list specific mechanics: projects are asked to keep a share of token supply public and to let the market judge their momentum.
The hackathon format is meant to make fundraising faster and more visible. This is an approach that puts a lot of power into trading activity, which supporters say can reveal what people actually want.
Pump.fun is signaling a shift. What began as a factory for memecoins has been steered toward funding broader startup ideas. The move is being framed as a way to back early-stage projects both inside and outside the token world, while still keeping a strong role for token mechanics.
But the platform has a past that colors this announcement: earlier coverage flagged security incidents and legal worries tied to memecoin launches and platform mechanics, which some observers say could make this venture-style push controversial.
Some critics worry the model may reward short-term hype over slow, steady product building. Market-driven selection can amplify excitement, and excitement can fade fast.
Questions have been raised about how traction will be measured and whether token-driven signals can consistently point to long-term, sustainable projects. Governance and transparency are already on watch lists.
Applications are open for teams that want a shot at the $3 million pool, with timelines given by Pump.fun for selection and the first cohort to be chosen quickly after submissions close.
The memecoins platform says it will supply capital plus hands-on support to winners, and the community will have a big role in helping decide which ideas rise.
Featured image from PYMNTS, chart from TradingView
Memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has launched an investment arm, Pump Fund, which will distribute $3 million in funding across 12 projects.
An animated video ad posted on X said that the fund is dedicated to early-stage startups. Further, it announced a Build in Public Hackathon, which will fund 12 projects with $250k at $10m valuation.
Introducing the $3,000,000 Build in Public Hackathon
— Pump.fun (@Pumpfun) January 19, 2026
Brought to you by Pump Fund – pump fun’s New Investment Arm
It’s time to completely reimagine how early-stage projects are built and funded.
Learn morepic.twitter.com/l1TJcxv1J0
“It will advance the startup ecosystem on pump fun by aligning itself with projects long-term,” Pump.fun wrote in a thread on X.
The Solana-based platform wrote that the upcoming hackathon is a time-limited event that differs from traditional programs. The hackathon offers funding, mentorship with Pump.fun’s founders and more.
“Instead of having to please judges/VCs for money, tokenizing allows the market to become the judge,” the platform added. “Your users are the ones that fund you by betting on you early.”
In order to be eligible for the hackathon, early-stage project participants must launch a token and own at least 10% of the token supply.
However, the projects need not be crypto-related, Pump.fun clarified. Projects of all maturities, verticals, and traction are welcome, it said.
Besides, the platform will prioritize product and social traction, open communication and long-term viability while choosing winners.
One user wrote that the hackathon is “the biggest unlock of builder talent.” Though AI has supported millions to build projects and boost the talent pool, the funding system didn’t, the user wrote.
“Portfolio companies with legit product being ignored… hackathon survivors. incubator rejects. solo entrepreneurs with a vibe + idea & AI. 3 am Claude devs outshipping funded startups,” the X post read. “The talent pool just 100x’d, yet the funding system didn’t. Time to change the game.”
The first cohort of startups is expected by February 2026.
PUMP, the native token of Pump.fun, rose 3.04% in the last 24 hours following the announcement of the Pump Fund launch. The token is trading at $0.00256 during press time, per CoinMarketCap.
Recent gains reflect short-term momentum but face resistance near $0.00274.
The token reached an all-time high in September, and has dropped 70% since then. The increase in memecoin activity, with Pump.fun-launched coins like WhiteWhale gaining traction, has pumped the token back on the radar.
Further, according to DefiLlama, the activity has contributed to a steady increase in revenue in the recent past, creating a strong tokenomic backbone for the rally.
The post Pump.fun Launches New Investment Division for Early-Stage Projects, Kicks Off Hackathon appeared first on Cryptonews.
Key takeaways
PUMP, the native coin of the Pump.fun DEX is up 1% in the last 24 hours, outperforming the broader crypto market.
The positive performance comes after Pump.fun released a callout feature on Thursday for creators to share listed coins with their followers. This latest development could boost the social interest and trading activity on the platform.
The release also comes when Pump.fun’s DEX volume is on the rise, hitting $84.34 million a few hours ago.
In addition to that, derivatives data indicate wavering retail interest in PUMP as capital flow and funding rates see-saw over the last week. According to CoinGlass, PUMP’s Open Interest (OI) is down 2% in the previous 24 hours to $237.69 million, pulled from $250 million twice so far this month.
Furthermore, the OI-weighted funding rate is at -0.0032%, pulling into the negative territory, suggesting that traders are holding more short positions.
The PUMP/USD 4H Chart is bullish and efficient as the cryptocurrency has performed excellently since the start of the week. PUMP is trading at $0.0029 after facing rejection in the last two sessions.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) remains above the signal line and in positive territory. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 60 rises toward the overbought zone, consistent with this week’s recovery.
If the daily candle closes above $0.003000, it would keep the near-term bias supported and push PUMP’s price towards $0.0033. The next major resistance level stands at $0.004048
However, if the bulls fail and PUMP drops below the 20-day EMA at $0.002577, it could dip further towards the $0.002330 support level.
The post PUMP eyes $0.0033 on release of creator-focused callout feature appeared first on CoinJournal.
I was off at the Chaos Communication Congress last weekend, and one of the big attractions for one who is nerdily inclined is seeing all of the personal projects that everyone brings along with them. Inevitably, someone would ask me what my favorite is. Maybe it’s my decision paralysis, maybe it’s being forced to pick a favorite child on the spot, or maybe it’s just that I’m not walking around ranking them, but that question always left me drawing a blank.
But after a week of thinking about it, I’m pretty sure I know why: I don’t actually care what I think of other peoples’ projects! I’m simply stoked to talk to everyone who brought anything, and bathe in the success and failure, hearing about the challenges that they saw coming, and then the new challenges they met along the way. I want to know what the hacker thinks of their project, what their intention was, and how their story went. I’m just a spectator, so I collected stories.
The overwhelming, entirely non-surprising result of listening to a couple hundred hackers talk about their projects? They’re all doing it for the fun of it. Simply for the grins. And that held equally well for the supremely planned-out and technical projects as well as their simpler I-bought-these-surplus-on-eBay-one-night relatives. “We were sitting around and thought, wouldn’t it be fun…” was the start of nearly every story.
That’s what I absolutely love about our community: that people are hacking because it makes them happy, and that the amazing variety of projects suggests an endless possibility for hacker happiness. It’s hard to come away from an event like that without being energized. Some of that comes from the sharing of ideas and brainstorming and hanging out with like-minded folks, but what I find most important is simply the celebration of the joy of the project for its own sake.
Happy hacking!
Russia faces a growing crisis over the state of its navy after prominent military analysts publicly acknowledged that the fleet is incapable of defending Russian-linked oil tankers from foreign interception. The assessment, made by pro-Kremlin analysts and amplified by the military channel Voyennyy Osvedomitel, comes as U.S. forces continue seizing sanctioned vessels around the world. […] Key takeaways
PUMP, the native token of the Pump.fun, is up by 30% in the last seven days, making it one of the top performers among the leading 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap. The rally comes amid growing demand for memecoins.
The rally also resulted in Pump.fun’s DEX volume hitting $1.28 billion on Monday, up from the $805 million recorded on Sunday.
The token has appreciated in recent days thanks to meme coin-driven trading activity in several ways, including token buybacks that depend on revenue generated. The DEX allocates nearly 100% of revenue to the token buyback program, which is expected to build long-term value for PUMP.
Furthermore, retail interest in PUMP has increased in recent days. According to CoinGlass, PUMP’s futures Open Interest (OI) averaged $231 million on Tuesday, up from approximately $207 million on Monday and $150 million on last Thursday. This suggests that traders are confident PUMP has the potential to sustain a short-term recovery.
The PUMP/USD 4-hour chart is bullish and efficient as the token has added 30% to its value in the last seven days. At press time, PUMP is trading above $0.0023 and could rally higher in the near term.
The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator on the 4-hour chart supports a bullish bias. The RSI also reads 61 and is heading into the overbought region if the bullish trend continues.
If the bulls remain in control, PUMP could rally towards the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $0.002992 to ascertain its recovery potential and encourage traders to increase exposure. The next major resistance level stands above the 100-day EMA at $0.0032.
However, if the bears regain control, PUMP could undergo a slight correction towards the $0.0020 psychological level.
The post PUMP eyes rally as DEX volume surges: Check forecast appeared first on CoinJournal.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said on Thursday, January 1, that it handed over decrypted routing data and a flight controller from what it claims was a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle involved in an alleged attack on President Vladimir Putin’s residence near Lake Valdai to a representative of the U.S. embassy’s military attache office. According to […] 
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