BonkFun has moved to reset the economics of meme coin launches on Solana, announcing a sharp cut to creator fees that signals a renewed fight for relevance in an increasingly crowded launchpad market. In a post on X, the team behind BonkFun said it is introducing “BONK Classic” launches with zero creator fees and a reduced 0.30% swap fee, with most of that fee routed back into liquidity. Everyone agrees creator fees are too damn high! Today is the first step in bringing the trenches more in line. First, we are introducing BONK Classic launches. BONK Classic launches are an opportunity to bring the trenches back to their former glory. – NO creator fees – 0.30%… pic.twitter.com/zqtxzpr07T — BONK.fun (@bonkfun) January 14, 2026 The structure mirrors the setup that dominated meme coin trading in 2024, a period many traders associate with explosive runs on Raydium-based tokens that reached multi-billion-dollar market capitalizations. BonkFun Shifts Fee Model as Meme Coin Activity Fragments Bonk.fun COO Solport Tom said creator fees have become increasingly controversial, splitting the community. While the fees helped teams fund development, listings, and community growth, he noted they also enabled widespread abuse, creating more harm than benefit. He added that to address this, Bonk.fun introduced flexible launch options to balance trader interests and project sustainability. Creator fees have become a big topic across all launchpads in recent times, with the community either divided for or against them, at @bonkfun when we were originally designing creator rewards 8 months, we had one area in mind (CTO’s), we believed that creator fees would provide… https://t.co/l9T0GDvL6M — Tom (@SolportTom) January 14, 2026 The change comes at a time when meme coin activity remains high but fragmented, with traders showing clear sensitivity to fees and incentives. BonkFun framed the update as a response to widespread frustration that creator fees have become too expensive and misaligned with trader interests. Under the new Classic model, creators earn nothing from trading activity, while liquidity depth is prioritized to support smoother price action. Alongside this, BonkFun is keeping an alternative path open through its “BONKERS” launches, where swap fees are reduced by as much as 50% while creator fees can be increased significantly for communities that want long-term revenue streams. In those cases, rewards will now be paid entirely in a single quote asset, such as USD-denominated tokens, rather than split between assets. BonkFun, also known as LetsBONK.fun , launched in April 2025 as a joint effort between the BONK community and Raydium. It quickly became a central venue for no-code meme coin creation on Solana. Within three days of launch, more than 2,700 tokens were created, and roughly $800,000 in fees were generated, helping push BONK’s price more than 50% higher in its first week. By July 2025, the platform had overtaken Pump.fun in market share , capturing over 55% of Solana’s token issuance during peak periods. A defining feature of its early success was its creator fee model, which offered developers a share of trading fees while routing a large portion of platform revenue into BONK buybacks and burns. Meme Coin Wars: Did a Fee Shake-Up Just Reshape the Launch Race That model, however, has come under pressure as market conditions shifted. Data from the past 24 hours shows Pump.fun firmly back in the lead, with nearly 30,000 new tokens launched, over $109 million in trading volume, and more than $1.27 million in daily fees. Source: Dune/adamhec BonkFun, by comparison, recorded under 2,000 new tokens, about $8 million in volume, and just under $100,000 in fees. Graduated tokens and active addresses tell a similar story, highlighting how quickly momentum can move between platforms. Source: Dune/adamhec The fee reset also lands days after Pump.fun announced its overhaul of creator incentives , introducing tools that allow fees to be split across multiple wallets. @Pump .fun introduces creator fee sharing to fix incentive issues for teams and curb risky, low-effort coin launches. https://t.co/Jrd1XOUZWu — Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) January 9, 2026 Pump.fun said the goal was to correct incentives that had made coin creation low risk while leaving traders exposed, a problem that has long defined meme coin markets. BonkFun’s shift back toward zero creator fees for certain launches reflects that same tension between fair launches and developer rewards. Before creator fees became common, meme coins relied almost entirely on hype, fair distribution, and trading volume, often producing sharp rallies followed by brutal reversals. Fees were later introduced to reduce rug pulls and encourage longer-term engagement, but they also raised costs for traders and changed behavior. Source: CoinGecko Market reaction has been cautiously positive so far, with the BONK token trading around $0.000012, up more than 8% over the past 24 hours, with trading volume jumping nearly 86% to over $300 million. Bonkfun says it is preparing a series of platform upgrades aimed at tightening controls and improving incentives. The planned changes include rules-based creator fee distribution, trader rewards, anti–multi-walleting measures, new launch mechanics, and a “Know Your Deployer” scoring system The post BonkFun Slashes Creator Fees to 0% to Revive ‘2024 Glory’ — Are Meme Coin Launchpad Wars Back? appeared first on Cryptonews .
