Author: Biteye Core Contributor Viee
From Meme to AI Agent, the exploration of linking Launchpad with traditional equity is also underway.
We've selected 10 representative platforms, dissecting their unique mechanisms and discussing how retail investors can seize opportunities while avoiding pitfalls. 01. Permissionless Platform 1. Heaven: A newly emerging AMM+Launchpad platform, Heaven integrates issuance and trading, eliminating the need for projects to migrate to an external DEX. All transaction fees remain on the platform and are used to repurchase and burn $LIGHT, with holders sharing the dividends directly. In contrast, Pump.fun, while profitable, lacks this reward mechanism. Earnings Performance: $LIGHT saw consecutive gains in the week following its launch, exceeding $100 million in market capitalization. Its ongoing buyback and burn mechanism has significantly boosted market confidence. 2. Zora: Zora is a social and creator economy protocol on the Base chain. Its core gameplay is that publishing content equals launching projects. Post a text or image, and it automatically emits assets. Earnings Performance: $ZORA saw its value rise tenfold for 20 consecutive days. In April of this year, the official Coinbase Base chain account posted the message "Base is for everyone," which automatically minted assets. Many people, mistaking it for an official announcement, rushed in, driving its market capitalization to $17 million before quickly falling back 90%. 3. Believe: Mechanism: Believe, formerly Clout, initially focused on "celebrity circles" before shifting to social asset management, popularizing the ICM narrative. Users simply tweet @launchcoin to automatically generate a project. Once its market capitalization exceeds $100,000, it will automatically be listed on exchanges like Meteora. Performance: $LAUNCHCOIN surged 50-fold in three days, reaching a market capitalization of $300 million. Before the name change, $PASTERNAK nearly reached zero, but within 24 hours, it surged from $1 million to $22 million. Many projects on the platform have also offered retail investors opportunities to increase their returns tenfold or more. 4. Pump.fun: Pump.fun is considered a pioneer in the on-chain asset issuance trend, making meme-based trading a major hit. Simply upload your name, logo, and profile to automatically generate a contract and initial liquidity pool. Pricing is determined using a bonding curve model: the more buyers, the higher the price. When the market capitalization reaches a specified threshold, the smart contract automatically migrates liquidity to an external DEX, providing seamless access to the broader market. Performance: As the leading permissionless platform, Pump.fun has spawned countless notable meme projects, so I won't go into detail here. 5. Bonk.fun: Launched in April 2025, the BONK community offers a similar platform to Pump.fun, but with a stronger emphasis on community dividends. A portion of transaction fees will be returned to BONK holders and ecosystem builders, strengthening community incentives. Profitability: The internet-famous cat $HOSICO (peak market cap of $60 million, a 6x increase) and $USELESS (peak market cap of nearly $300 million, an over 10x increase). Overall, projects with community support are more likely to break through. 6. Virtuals: Virtuals focuses on the AI agent track. Users must lock up $VIRTUAL to create an agent and establish a pool. Once the bonding curve threshold is reached, they can "graduate" and generate a liquidity pool paired with $VIRTUAL. Profitability: After the early year hype subsided, Genesis Launch reignited the market, with $VIRTUAL rebounding 150% in a week, and the ecosystem followed suit. The new project $BasisOS saw its market capitalization surge to $5.5 million within 12 days of its launch, with a peak increase of 40-fold. 02. Platforms requiring permission Unlike "no-barrier" launchpads, these launchpads undergo rigorous screening and prioritize quality. 1. Echo Mechanism: Echo can be thought of as an "angel investment alliance on-chain." A lead investor initiates an investment group, shares their project opportunities with the group, and everyone invests in them. The lead investor then receives a share of the profits. Echo requires users to complete KYC verification, such as through email and Twitter accounts, and is generally more of a niche platform.
Revenue Performance: Echo has facilitated financing for popular projects such as Ethena, Morph, Usual, and Hyperlane, and these projects have seen relatively stable development following their private placements.
2. Buidlpad
Mechanism: Buidlpad is a public offering platform launched by former Binance executive Erick Zhang at the end of 2024. Unlike Echo's private placement, which targets a small circle of investors, Buidlpad strictly requires KYC but is more open to the general public. In January of this year, it also launched its first project, Solayer's LAYER public offering.
Revenue Performance: Solayer exceeded its target by 5 times, with a 240% increase on its TGE day; Sahara exceeded its target by 8 times, also with a 120% increase on its TGE day. @Lombard_Finance will also launch a community pre-sale on Buidlpad. 3. Kaito: In July, the Kaito team announced the launch of Capital Launchpad, an on-chain angel investment platform similar to Echo, but instead of relying on transaction speed, the Kaito team allocates funds based on metrics like on-chain holdings and social media reputation. Performance: The first project, Espresso, is valued at 400 million yuan. The second project, Theoriq, is valued at 75 million yuan. 4. Ventuals: Ventuals allows ordinary users to participate in pre-IPOs, but rather than issuing actual shares, they issue perpetual synthetic assets that track a company's valuation. Based on Hyperliquid's HIP-3 standard, Ventuals transforms private company equity into on-chain derivatives, traded like "shadow stocks." In contrast, PreStocks and Jarsy are pegged 1:1 to real stocks, corresponding to actual shares and more closely resembling the traditional securities model. Earnings Performance: As of August 20th, the 24-hour gains for the Ventuals project ranged from 5% to 30%. 03. Launchpad Moat: Is it about fairness, barriers to entry, or ecosystem? As can be seen from the previous examples, Launchpad platforms are almost always "a new version of a new product," relying on two key elements: creating differentiated assets and retaining traffic within the platform. Furthermore, several other key dimensions are particularly critical: 1. Fairness: Heaven's buyback and burn mechanism aligns the interests of users and the platform. Conversely, if it were controlled by bots and insider trading, the retail investor experience would be devastated. 2. Barriers to Entry: Echo's invitation-only system creates a small community barrier, while Believe leverages social networking to attract new members, both of which are difficult to replicate. 3. Project Resources: Platforms that can consistently attract high-quality projects will become increasingly powerful. 4. Model Innovation: Heaven's integration, Zora's content development, and Believe's social triggering all offer first-mover advantages. 04. Retail Investor Strategy: How to Seize Launchpad Opportunities and Avoid Being Burdened? 1. First, consider your preferences: If you enjoy gambling, you can play on an unlicensed platform, where even a small amount of capital can yield good returns. If you prefer stability, choose a licensed platform, where project quality is more guaranteed. 2. Control your position: Don't go all-in. High-risk positions should ideally not exceed 10%–20% of your total capital. 3. Follow the market: Meme, AI, Heaven, and Zora are all hot topics that rotate. If a platform suddenly becomes popular, there will often be short-term opportunities.
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