Raydium
Raydium: Decentralized exchange resource for on-chain swaps, liquidity, and trading.
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Raydium is indexed in ABAB Crypto Map under Decentralized Exchanges. This page keeps the official site, category, tags, and related ABAB coverage together as a searchable crypto project profile. Official domain: raydium.io.
Related News & Analysis
On-Chain Investigator Warns of Attack on Raydium's Old Liquidity Pool
...ning that an old liquidity pool of the Solana DeFi protocol Raydium is suspected to have been attacked. The attacker stole approximately $1.34 million in assets, mainly including USDC, RAY, and wSOL, and subsequently tra...
GMGN.AI: The Rise from Grassroots Meme Tool to Leading "Modular CEX" and In-depth Analysis of Its Founder
1. Overview: What is GMGN.AI and Who Leads It (1) Platform Positioning GMGN.AI is essentially a "multi-chain Meme trading terminal + data tool". Its product forms include a web platform, an app, and a Telegram bot. GMGN is not a traditional centralized exchange but rather an upper-layer tool that provides data analysis, trading routing, and automated execution services around decentralized exchanges like Pump.fun and Raydium. GMGN explicitly states in its Google Play disclosure that the app is not an exchange but a platform that combines data analysis, trading access, self-custody wallets, and custodial tools. (2) Founders and Key Figures GMGN has at least three identifiable core figures: Haze, known as "Chicken Brother" in the Chinese community, is a co-founder of GMGN and the most recognizable representative. He is primarily responsible for sales, branding, community operations, and external narratives, regarded by some community members as the soul of GMGN. Jerry Ma is the founder and CEO of GMGN, with a background in tool product development, having participated in the creation of NFTTrack. He is mainly responsible for product coordination, company management, and product development direction, serving as the core leader at the company level. Arthur's X account is @arthur_gmgn, and he is publicly identified as a co-founder of GMGN.AI, involved in team operations and external communications, but there is limited public information about him, mostly remaining at the social media identity level. (3) Product and Team Profile The GMGN team mainly consists of product managers and engineers with long-term experience in tool product development, most members having backgrounds in large Web2 internet companies or tool-based products. The team size has expanded from about 9-10 people initially to over 30, with personnel mainly focused on product, technology, and infrastructure roles, without establishing a large business development or marketing team. The internal role division is relatively clear: Jerry, as the product head and founder, leads the product direction. Haze is responsible for sales, branding, user operations, and external markets, positioning himself on the front lines. Other core members mainly handle product development, data processing, trading infrastructure, and security systems. 2. Family Background and Growth Environment (1) Birth Time and Region Haze states he was born in August 1987, belonging to the typical "post-85" generation, with the zodiac sign of Leo, and grew up in Hunan, China. He emphasizes his ordinary background, with no family capital or technical genius background. Currently, he has lived in Singapore for about four years, using it as a base to observe the global cryptocurrency market and operate GMGN. (2) Family Class and Parent Information Haze repeatedly emphasizes in interviews that he did not have grand dreams early on, with the most direct goal being to make money. He has stated that he previously worked in a very small place, following a typical ordinary career path. These statements point to a middle to lower-class workplace background in ordinary cities or counties in China, rather than a wealthy family, elite family within the system, or a family with abundant entrepreneurial resources. There is limited public information about his parents' professions, family asset status, and other family members. (3) Personality and Interests Public reports focus more on Haze's personality and interests after adulthood. His MBTI test result is INTJ-A. He considers himself a relatively introverted person but has to play a high-exposure, expressive extroverted marketing role on social media due to work needs. He enjoys rap music, including Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Trap, and Memphis Rap. This cultural preference allows him to resonate more easily with the young Meme player community and reinforces his interest in sharpness, confrontation, and PVP game culture. He summarizes his personality as: generally introverted, inclined towards rational analysis and strategic thinking, but daring to bet on clear trends in product and market choices. This personality later directly manifested in key decisions like All in Meme and All in Solana. 3. Educational Background and Sources of Thought (1) Formal Education Haze clearly states that he did not attend university and does not come from a prestigious school or professional background. He first entered the workforce and later transitioned into the cryptocurrency industry due to Bitcoin news, self-learning quantitative trading, blockchain, and market knowledge. This experience is significantly different from the paths of many Web3 entrepreneurs who come from prestigious technical schools or have studied abroad, resembling the development path of frontline traders and practical tool developers. (2) Self-Learning Path and Knowledge Structure In 2018, Haze joined a quantitative company engaged in grid trading. He wrote an early systematic tutorial on grid trading on a blogging platform, gaining initial reputation in the quantitative trading circle. From public interviews, he is clearly influenced by the following categories of thoughts and texts: "The Art of War": Used to think about how to gain advantages through unconventional means. He views the market as a battlefield, understanding product iteration and trading games as military processes. "Tao Te Ching": The GMGN team has organized readings and sharing of the "Tao Te Ching", attempting to constrain the team in a more restrained and long-term manner, maintaining a certain moderation in the extremely PVP Meme market. Data transparency and self-correction: Haze emphasizes that one of the advantages of blockchain is its strong self-cleaning ability. Public data can break traditional venture capital narratives and help the market quickly identify errors and bubbles. This concept directly drives GMGN towards the product direction of "data retail + decision signalization". (3) Other Founders' Educational Background Jerry Ma is described as having about 20 years of experience in tool product development, mainly focused on internet tools and data products. Public reports do not disclose his specific educational background or school information. Arthur's educational experience and growth background have limited public information. 4. Early Work Experience: From Ordinary Employee to Quantitative Trader (1) Before Entering the Crypto Industry Before encountering Bitcoin, Haze states he only worked in a small place. His work status was to complete tasks and receive a salary, with no clear long-term career plan or entrepreneurial ideals. This phase is closer to the workplace life of ordinary young people in China's third and fourth-tier cities. (2) 2017-2018: Entering the Crypto Industry At the end of 2017, he accidentally saw Bitcoin-related reports in the news and intuitively bought a small amount of Bitcoin, viewing it as a worthwhile opportunity to try. This was his first exposure to crypto assets. In 2018, he officially joined a quantitative company engaged in grid trading, systematically learning blockchain and quantitative trading strategies from scratch. He quickly established a certain reputation in niche circles by writing tutorials and creating content. This phase laid the foundation for his later "trading + tool" capability combination. (3) Pionex, Pai Network, and BitUniverse Phase Haze subsequently entered the Pionex and Pai Network ecosystem, participating in the early construction of the Pai exchange and later becoming the head of BitUniverse in China. He was responsible for user growth, operations, customer service, and product-related work. He described himself as having done almost everything except coding. This experience deepened his understanding of centralized exchanges, quantitative tools, user growth, and trading product business models. This also explains why the market once mistakenly believed GMGN was a project incubated by Pai Network and why he has a strong sensitivity and iterative ability regarding automated trading tools. 5. Entrepreneurship and Project Experience: From NFTTrack to GMGN (1) Jerry Ma's Tool Product Path Before GMGN, Jerry Ma participated in creating NFTTrack. NFTTrack is a tool product that tracks blue-chip NFT trading dynamics, primarily serving professional NFT traders. The core logic of NFTTrack is "data converted into decisions", helping users discover trading opportunities through data dashboards, address tracking, and blue-chip asset trading monitoring. This experience was later transferred to GMGN, with the product focus shifting from NFTs to Meme Coins and multi-chain crypto assets. (2) Haze's Podcast, Content, and Community Operations Haze has long been active in podcasts, X Space, and Chinese crypto communities, participating in interviews and programs with organizations like Wu Says Blockchain and 7UpDAO. He publicly shared his experience of losing about $350,000 trading Meme assets, calling himself a "dog fool" and using this failure as a cautionary tale. This narrative of public failure amplified GMGN's community topic. "From $0 to $10 Million Meme Operation Guide" is another content product attempt. GMGN collaborated with several KOLs to systematically organize Meme trading methods, reinforcing its knowledge authority in the Meme scene while bringing in new users for GMGN. (3) GMGN: From Internal Startup to Independent Brand From the existing narrative, GMGN initially resembled an internal startup or amateur project pushed by Haze and former colleagues, not a large project relying on venture capital funding from day one. In terms of initial team size, product development pace, and funding choices, GMGN significantly differs from typical Web3 venture capital projects. Haze has repeatedly emphasized that GMGN is an independent project. Although many team members previously worked at Pionex or BitUniverse, there is no equity or incubation relationship between GMGN and these companies. This independence has also become an important statement for GMGN in responding to external doubts about its capital background. 6. GMGN's Timeline and Key Milestones (1) 2023: From Ethereum Launch to Seeking Direction In June 2023, GMGN officially launched and began development. The product initially connected to Ethereum, with the core entry point being smart money tracking, resembling a more user-friendly on-chain data dashboard and trading entry. From September to October 2023, GMGN began formal operations. At that time, the Meme market had not fully exploded, and the team mainly conducted product experiments around high-profile Meme assets like MOG and HPOS on Ethereum. (2) Q1 2024: Strategic Shift to Solana From January to March 2024, Haze observed projects like Silly Dragon, Mobile, and BOME on Solana experiencing successive explosions. After investing funds to participate in trading, he judged that the Meme market's funds and users would gradually settle on Solana. Therefore, he pushed the team to strategically shift to Solana starting in March 2024. During the migration process, there was significant internal controversy. The main concern was that if it took two months to complete the Solana version's development while Solana's popularity had declined, the team would waste critical time. Ultimately, the judgment that "active on-chain hunters are migrating to Solana" outweighed the risk concerns, and the team completed the strategic migration. (3) Q2 to Q3 2024: Function Explosion and Natural Growth In April to May 2024, GMGN's Solana support features were fully launched. The data dashboard and smart money tracking features were frequently used, and the platform gradually accumulated its first batch of deep users. In July to August 2024, GMGN launched the "Wash Trading" and "Insider Wallet" features, automatically marking project wallets, distribution wallets, and suspected internal trading addresses. This feature was extremely popular among professional Meme traders and was seen as a true breakout moment for GMGN. At the same time, Pump.fun's popularity rapidly increased. GMGN built a complete on-chain trading closed loop around Pump.fun's internal market and Raydium's secondary liquidity. Features like wash trading identification, developer rug history, and real-time risk alerts gradually formed differentiated barriers. (4) Q4 2024: Trading Volume and Revenue Explosion On November 17, 2024, according to third-party Dune dashboard data, GMGN's daily trading volume reached approximately $72 million. The daily trading volume ranked second only to PHOTON and higher than BULLX. The corresponding daily fee income was approximately $710,000, with about 25,000 daily active users. In the same month, Binance listed Meme assets like ACT and Pnut, further driving user attention to on-chain trading. GMGN, as an on-chain asset scanning and trading terminal, clearly benefited from this trend. Haze views this stage as a key node for Meme and on-chain trading to fully enter the mass market. (5) 2025-2026: Consolidating Leading Position Between 2024 and 2025, GMGN was referred to by some media as a "leading project in the modular CEX track". This concept refers to GMGN providing a trading experience and functional closed loop similar to centralized exchanges on-chain, while still being based on DEX and on-chain matching. Third-party tool evaluations generally regard GMGN as one of the leading platforms in Solana Meme trading tools. Related evaluations focus on three main aspects: Copy Trading user experience. Data update speed. Wallet tracking depth. 7. Product Forms and Technical Positioning (1) Asset Issuance and Data New Retail Haze views Meme as the "new retail era of asset issuance". In his analogy, Pump.fun is like an asset supermarket, allowing anyone to issue a large number of tokens at low cost and conduct rapid rotations. GMGN is akin to a data new retail platform, packaging complex on-chain data into simple trading signals, such as: Wash trading alerts. Smart money buying. Multiple wallet purchases. KOL purchases. Changes in project holdings. Users can directly complete trades based on these signals. Essentially, users are purchasing not just data but also the execution capabilities corresponding to the data. Haze believes that traditional data platforms like Nansen and Dune are more like providing engines, where users still need to build their decision models. GMGN aims to become a "4S store", directly providing users with complete products suitable for specific markets, namely "signals + one-click trading", lowering the threshold for Meme players to use on-chain data. (2) Core Functions GMGN's core functions include: New Coin Monitoring: Aggregating issuance platforms and liquidity pools like Pump.fun, FourMeme, Raydium, and filtering new coins based on market cap, trading volume, and creation time. Real-time Rankings and Trends: Ranking based on the number of buy/sell orders, transaction volume, price changes, and holder growth, displaying capital flows and market heat. Chip and Wash Trading Analysis: Identifying internal wallet ratios, developer holding ratios, concentration of the top ten addresses, and bulk buy orders. Security Audit: Checking whether liquidity is locked or destroyed, whether there are Honeypots, whether permissions are relinquished, and whether minting is possible, with some capabilities relying on external security services like GoPlus and Honeypot.is. Smart Money Tracking and Copy Trade: Scoring based on the historical win rate and profit/loss of wallets, supporting one-click copying of buy/sell operations and position ratios, and providing automatic profit-taking, stop-loss, and trailing stop-loss functions. KOL and Wallet Monitoring: Maintaining a list of high-value wallets and KOL addresses, providing real-time alerts for buying, selling, increasing positions, and liquidating. Trading Execution Layer: Connecting trading routes and DEX across multiple blockchains, providing multi-wallet batch order placement, Anti-MEV, priority fees, and customizable tips. Data API and AI Access: Providing structured APIs for Token, Wallet, Market, Signal, and Execution, encapsulated as AI Skills for GPT, Claude, and other agents to call for on-chain queries and trading execution. This functionality has garnered additional attention for GMGN in the AI Agent trading narrative in 2025-2026. (3) Wallet and Security Model GMGN offers two main usage modes: The first is the browser, app, and plugin wallet mode. Users authorize using their wallets like Phantom and MetaMask, requiring user signatures for each operation. This mode is relatively secure but has a lower user experience and automation level. The second is the Telegram Bot mode. The platform server hosts user keys or controls trading permissions through MPC and other methods. This mode is more suitable for high-frequency trading and automated strategy users but imposes higher demands on platform security and internal risk control. Haze has cited the private key plaintext transmission and server attack incidents of competitor DEXX as negative examples, emphasizing that GMGN established an independent security team from the beginning, using encrypted storage and isolated architecture. However, he also acknowledges that no system can achieve 100% security, and what truly matters is the ability to quickly identify problems, control risks, and compensate users. 8. Business Model and Revenue Structure (1) Basic Fee Structure: 1% Trading Fee GMGN's official documentation shows that the platform charges a 1% fee on each buy and sell transaction, with no monthly or subscription fees. Users' actual costs also include on-chain gas fees and fees charged by issuance platforms like Pump.fun. Some third-party evaluations indicate that trading through referral links can yield certain fee discounts. GMGN has also set up a referral commission mechanism, allowing referrers to earn a portion of the trading fees from invited users. (2) Revenue Scale and Profitability On the peak date in November 2024, GMGN's daily trading volume was approximately $72 million. Based on the 1% trading fee estimate, the daily fee income was about $710,000. Relevant data mainly comes from third-party Dune dashboards and media references. This revenue level once placed GMGN on the list of high-fee crypto infrastructure projects. Some statistical platforms show that GMGN's cumulative fee income reached approximately $229 million, indicating strong cash flow capabilities during the prosperous period of the Meme market. (3) Cost Structure and Expanded Revenue Jerry stated in an interview that GMGN's data analysis and real-time storage costs are high, with monthly server costs nearing $100,000. In the future, GMGN may open up advertising space, signal promotion, and paid API as revenue sources for projects. However, currently, the platform still mainly relies on trading fees. GMGN also provides data API whitelists, referral bots, and trading group commissions as cooperation models, offering monetization interfaces for projects, trading communities, and bot developers. (4) Choice Not to Issue Tokens Haze has publicly stated multiple times that GMGN's primary revenue source is trading fees. The team has not yet decided whether to issue a platform token. The core concern is that once a token is issued, users may focus excessively on the token price, neglecting the product itself, leading to a shift in product stickiness and team focus. Based on his observations of competition among NFT trading platforms, he believes that a project's real decline does not depend on whether it issues tokens but on whether it begins to ignore user needs. Therefore, GMGN prioritizes product iteration over building a Token economic system. 9. Capital Relations and Organizational Structure (1) Legal Entity and Registration Location Google Play's developer information shows that GMGN's development entity is GMGN Labs Limited. Its registered address is Trinity Chambers, Road Town, British Virgin Islands. The disclosed contact number is a Singapore number, and it uses emails like gmgn.ai and gmgn.cc. This structure resembles the "offshore company + Singapore operating team" model adopted by many crypto projects. (2) External Investment and Financing Public databases show that GMGN has not disclosed any funding rounds or public lists of institutional or angel investors. Combined with the financing situations of other projects in the same track, and GMGN's long-term emphasis on not blindly financing during market peaks, it can be reasonably judged that GMGN does not have any prominent venture capital institutions or Web3 funds invested at least at the public level. The platform mainly relies on self-generated income for rolling development. There is limited public information on whether there are undisclosed personal financing or equity arrangements. (3) Relationships with Other Organizations Relationship with Pionex and Pai Network: Several members of the GMGN team previously worked at Pionex or BitUniverse. However, Haze explicitly denies that GMGN is an incubated or controlled project of Pai Network, defining it as an independent project. Relationship with 7UpDAO: 7UpDAO partner Nathan has had multiple interviews and discussions with Haze, with their relationship mainly focused on content cooperation, opinion dissemination, and community communication, with no clear capital binding found. Relationship with centralized exchanges: Trading platforms like Bitget, Gate, and Binance have reported on GMGN in content and education. Currently, there is no clear information indicating that GMGN has become an official embedded tool or strategic investment object of any centralized exchange. 10. Key Decisions and Turning Points (1) All in Crypto and Quantitative Trading Transitioning from an ordinary employee to crypto and quantitative trading was a significant turning point in Haze's life. At the end of 2017, he decided to buy Bitcoin. In 2018, he entered a quantitative trading company, self-learning and writing grid trading tutorials. Thus, he completed the leap from an ordinary employee lacking educational advantages to a tutorial author and industry participant in the quantitative trading circle. This phase laid the foundation for his later multiple identities, including trader, KOL, product consultant, and founder. (2) Abandoning BRC-20 and Inscription Direction In June 2023, when GMGN was just starting its project, the team discussed whether to develop a BRC-20 wallet and inscription tools. Haze believed that inscriptions did not solve practical problems, had poor trading experiences, and low asset issuance efficiency, and could gradually lose vitality like some NFT projects in the long term. Therefore, he firmly opposed betting on the inscription direction and pushed the team to shift towards Meme Coin tools. In hindsight, this decision helped GMGN avoid the short-lived competition of inscription tools and seize the growth opportunities of Pump.fun and the Solana Meme market. (3) Migration from Ethereum to Solana This was one of the biggest turning points in GMGN's product development process. Before the migration, the Meme market's popularity on Ethereum was limited, and the trading experience was constrained by gas costs and network performance. The migration decision mainly stemmed from Haze's actual trading experiences with Solana Meme projects like Silly Dragon, Mobile, and BOME. He judged that active on-chain hunters were gathering on Solana. After the migration, GMGN's user numbers, trading volume, daily active users, and transaction counts experienced exponential growth. This was a high-risk, high-reward blockchain-level strategic bet that had a decisive impact on GMGN's market position. (4) Launching Wash Trading and Insider Wallet Features After establishing a foothold on Solana, GMGN launched features for wash trading identification, developer rug history, and chip distribution. These features compressed the originally high-threshold data analysis work into several labels, colors, and risk alerts, significantly improving decision efficiency for Meme traders. This functionality directly drove GMGN's reputation growth and community dissemination. Subsequent features like red fish, suspected collusion addresses, and sniper developer tags also collectively formed the core selling points of GMGN's data retail platform. This model shifted the Meme tool industry from "subscription-based professional data platforms" to "pay-per-trade + tool commission". (5) Choosing Not to Issue Tokens and Not to Raise Funds In the second half of 2024, the Meme tool track rapidly heated up, with a large influx of venture capital. GMGN chose not to issue a platform token or raise funds publicly but to rely on fee income for rolling development. The team publicly opposes short-termism that only chases trends and quick arbitrage. This choice sacrificed token market narratives and capital speculation gains in the short term but maintained a relatively pure product positioning and reduced some regulatory pressure. This also allowed GMGN to maintain a certain differentiation among trading tools that issued a large number of tokens. 11. Representative Achievements and Industry Impact (1) Status of Meme Tools and Trading Terminals According to multiple media and third-party evaluations, GMGN is in a leading position in the Solana and multi-chain Meme tool field. Its daily trading volume once ranked second in the Meme tool market, only behind PHOTON. In some fee rankings, GMGN has consistently ranked high, with cumulative fee income exceeding $200 million. GMGN has also been referred to by some media as a leading project in the modular CEX track, alongside BullX and Photon, forming the top platforms in the Meme trading tool field. (2) Data Retail and PVP Culture Haze's concepts of "the new retail era of asset issuance" and "data retail platform" provide GMGN with a clear product narrative. These concepts have also influenced the design direction of subsequent tool products, shifting the industry from providing APIs and data tables to directly offering decision signals and one-click trading. Haze openly accepts the PVP characteristics of the Meme market, understanding it as a high-risk gambling market with relatively transparent data. He emphasizes data openness, rapid trial and error, and small-scale participation. This perspective has changed some traditional value investors' views on the Meme market and prompted some institutions and seasoned investors to attempt using tools to build systematic Meme trading strategies. (3) Promoting Data and Trading Integration The GMGN team emphasizes that trading is the endpoint of data analysis. Therefore, the platform not only provides data dashboards but also deeply integrates order placement, automated strategies, Anti-MEV, and anti-squeeze trading execution capabilities. This approach promotes traditional on-chain data platforms towards "data + trading integration" and also impacts the traditional product boundaries of centralized and decentralized exchanges. With the rise of AI Agents, GMGN has standardized its API as AI Skills, allowing large models to directly call GMGN for on-chain queries and trading execution. This has given it a first-mover advantage in the agent trading field. 12. Controversies, Risks, and External Criticism (1) "Dog Fool" and Trading Failures Haze once lost about $350,000 in a dedicated account for trading Meme assets, being referred to by some X users as "dog fool" or "Meme Fool". From a traditional finance perspective, this is considered a serious trading mistake. Haze instead leveraged this label, packaging it as paying tuition and gaining experience through actual losses. He also detailed this experience in a podcast, drawing traffic to GMGN. This willingness to publicly acknowledge failure has earned him some recognition in the Meme community, which is heavily PVP-oriented. (2) Custodial Risks of the Telegram Bot GMGN's Telegram Bot mode requires hosting user private keys or controlling user assets through MPC and other methods. This type of model carries systemic risks across the industry. If the server is attacked, keys are leaked, or internal personnel engage in malicious behavior, user funds could suffer significant losses. Haze criticized competitor DEXX for issues like plaintext transmission of private keys and server attacks during discussions of security incidents. He emphasized that GMGN uses encrypted storage and isolated architecture. However, these security claims are difficult to fully verify externally. Thus, custodial risks remain a key concern for rational users and security researchers. (3) User Experience and Withdrawal Controversies In historical comments on Google Play, some users reported the following issues: Abnormal SOL balance display. Delays in asset arrival. Complicated withdrawal processes. At times, it required confirmation through the Telegram Bot or manually, preventing immediate completion of all withdrawals. These issues raised some users' doubts about withdrawal difficulties. Developers responded that these issues have been fixed and that withdrawals can now be made at any time. However, these historical records may still be viewed as negative experiences by some users, reminding external observers of the complexity of its fund flow and product architecture. (4) Capital and Compliance Opacity Public databases show that GMGN has not disclosed any financing records or issued platform tokens. The company is registered in the British Virgin Islands, with its operational focus in Singapore. This combination of "offshore company + high crypto fee income" naturally raises institutional concerns about its equity structure, taxation, anti-money laundering, and user fund paths. Currently, there are no significant reports of GMGN facing major regulatory penalties or legal lawsuits. However, considering its fee scale and Telegram Bot custodial model, GMGN may still face considerable compliance pressure in the future against the backdrop of increasing global regulation. Risks are particularly concentrated in custodial wallets, automated trading, and referral commission businesses. 13. Current Identity, Influence, and Structural Position (1) Haze: From Quantitative Tutorial Author to Meme Era Narrator Currently, Haze holds multiple identities: Co-founder and external representative of GMGN. A representative quantitative trader and tool entrepreneur in the Chinese and Asian Meme field. Proposer and disseminator of concepts like "the new retail era of asset issuance" and "data retail platform". He continues to emphasize long-termism, sharpness, and self-iteration through Chinese podcasts, interviews, and long articles. He attempts to position GMGN between a casino trading tool and an infrastructure provider in the extremely PVP Meme market. (2) Jerry Ma: The Low-Key Product Founder Jerry Ma rarely appears frequently on Chinese social media. However, in several in-depth reports in both Chinese and English, he is described as having about 20 years of experience in tool products and having led NFTTrack as a product-oriented CEO. His product thinking is closer to traditional internet companies: Small steps and quick iterations. Rapid MVP validation. Data-driven focus. Cautious about valuation and expansion. He places GMGN's main metrics on the number of traders, transaction counts, server stability, and product iteration speed, rather than solely focusing on trading volume. This indicates he prefers to understand GMGN from a tool product perspective rather than viewing it purely as a financial platform. (3) GMGN's Position in the Crypto Market Structure From the perspective of on-chain trading structure, GMGN is roughly positioned as follows: Upstream: Connecting liquidity and trading routes from Pump.fun, Raydium, Jupiter, various Layer 2 networks, and Solana DEX. Midstream: Building smart money, wash trading, and strategy signal layers through data collection, cleaning, and analysis. Downstream: Serving PVP Meme players, Meme KOLs, on-chain quantitative traders, as well as some venture capital institutions and professional traders. GMGN provides integrated tools from asset discovery, data analysis, trading execution to post-trade review. In the context of Meme becoming an important narrative in this crypto cycle, GMGN is both a "water seller" collecting tool fees and, in a sense, a rule maker. Its wash trading and risk labels can influence users' judgments about projects, giving GMGN structural influence that transcends a single tool in the Meme ecosystem. (4) Future Directions and Potential Changes Haze has judged that 2024-2028 may be a relatively important development cycle for the crypto market. His judgment is based on factors such as public participation of American politicians and tech entrepreneurs in crypto assets, as well as the rapid growth of on-chain trading scale. Under this macro judgment, GMGN's strategies include: Not rushing to issue tokens or to raise funds at high valuations, but relying on fee income for continuous expansion. Continuing to follow on-chain trends. Currently, the core market is Meme, but it may also migrate to other new narratives with similar data structures and user needs. Emphasizing sharpness and long-termism, while maintaining high-frequency product iterations and avoiding getting lost in capital and short-term speculation. GMGN's position in the real world is quite unique. On one hand, it is a high-income tool company registered in the British Virgin Islands, primarily relying on trading fees, and has not issued tokens. On the other hand, it is deeply embedded in the highly PVP and speculative Meme market. It serves as both an on-chain trading infrastructure and a tool and "arms dealer" on the periphery of the speculative market. GMGN's long-term development will be closely related to the scale of on-chain trading, the lifecycle of the Meme market, wallet security capabilities, and the global regulatory environment.
Deep Research Report on Pump.fun and Its Founders
1. Family Background and Early Environment Composition of the Co-Founding Team: The cryptocurrency asset launchpad and trading platform Pump.fun officially debuted on January 19, 2024, engineered by three young entrepreneurs in their early twenties: Noah Tweedale, Alon Cohen, and Dylan Kerler. Profile of Noah Tweedale: Noah Bernhard Hugo Tweedale, born in September 2003, holds British nationality and serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the primary operational entity, Baton Corporation Ltd. Prior to launching Pump.fun, he was highly active within local student developer and blockchain builder networks in Oxford, UK. Profile of Alon Cohen: Alon Cohen, born in June 2003, holds German nationality and has been long active across the UK and continental Europe. In the platform's early phases, he operated primarily under the pseudonym "alon" (X handle @a1lon9) and was the primary public-facing figure managing external communications. Profile of Dylan Kerler: Dylan Kerler, born in July 2001, holds British nationality. He is the most low-profile member of the founding trio, rarely appearing in public media, and primarily directs the technical development team in charge of writing smart contract code and executing functional iterations. Socioeconomic and Upbringing Resources: Publicly available records regarding the socioeconomic backgrounds and family environments of the three founders are limited. However, Companies House filings indicate that Kerler has utilized the alias "Dylan Phoon" and shared a registered address in Brighton and Hove, UK, with a 62-year-old resident named Kee Fatt Phoon, hinting at a potential familial relationship. Cohen registered his early business entity at the age of 20 using his parents' residential address. Early Exposure to Speculation: The founding team was heavily immersed in high-risk digital asset speculation from their teenage years, accumulating years of trading experience in Dogecoin and other highly volatile meme coins. Kerler went so far as to launch several speculative on-chain assets in 2017 when he was just 16 years old, providing him with early practical insights into retail liquidity dynamics. 2. Educational Background and Intellectual Influences Meeting in Oxford: Tweedale, Cohen, and Kerler met and connected in Oxford, England. During their college years, they lived in local student housing and regularly organized and attended student-run crypto-geeks social gatherings (such as black-tie masquerade events), which laid the social foundation for their eventual partnership. Academic Dropout Status: While the three met during their university years in Oxford, public records regarding whether they completed their undergraduate degrees at Oxford University or other higher education institutions are limited and cannot be verified at present. Evidence suggests they likely paused their formal studies to pursue their startup full-time. Intellectual Context and Era: The founders' operating philosophy was deeply shaped by the anti-establishment ethos of 4Chan, internet meme subcultures, the legacy of the 2017 ICO bubble, and the rise of permissionless DeFi. Cohen has openly declared his vision to bypass corporate web2 gatekeepers and build decentralized alternatives designed to compete with and replace tech giants like Facebook and TikTok. Psychological Persona of the Founders: Qiao Wang, the founder of Alliance DAO—the incubator that backed Pump.fun—observed that the founders possessed strong "autistic traits". He argued that this cognitive style enabled them to engage in highly independent, contrarian thinking, freeing them to bypass standard venture capital narratives and address the retail community's deep fatigue with high-valuation venture-backed dumps. 3. Work Experience and Early Entry Into the Sector Traditional Career Vacancy: Due to their young age, Tweedale, Cohen, and Kerler possessed virtually no standard corporate resumes or formal work experience at major financial institutions, technology giants, or established Web3 firms prior to launching Pump.fun. Dylan Kerler’s Early Issuance Career: At the height of the 2017 ICO craze, a 16-year-old Kerler utilized BitcoinTalk forum accounts under pseudonyms such as DOMAINBROKER and ninjagod to launch eight token projects, including eBitcoinCash and EthereumCash. Blockchain security audits conducted by CertiK revealed that Kerler extracted roughly $75,000 in Ether (worth upwards of $400,000 at current valuations) from these issuances before the tokens crashed, leading to early allegations of "rug pulls" from burned forum users. Noah Tweedale and the HomeDAO Network: Tweedale spent his early career cultivating professional relationships and tech skills through HomeDAO. This organization served as a student-led co-living and building hub for developers in Oxford, providing him with a network of early-stage engineers and advisors. Alon Cohen's Early Entrepreneurial Ventures: Prior to founding Pump.fun, Cohen co-founded an early enterprise named Stealth Startup and was actively involved with sustainability and social impact organizations, including the Greentech Alliance and Top Tier Impact, which provided him with early commercial and project management experience. Pivot From NFTs to Meme Coins: Following the structural collapse of the NFT market in late 2022, the group pivoted entirely to meme coin speculation. As retail participants on Ethereum, they grew frustrated by prohibitive transaction fees, front-running bots, and the constant threat of malicious founders removing liquidity pools, which inspired them to design an automated, standardized, and safe alternative on Solana. 4. Entrepreneurial Journey and Corporate Structuring Incorporation of Baton Corporation: On March 20, 2023, Tweedale incorporated Baton Corporation Ltd (Company No. 14743013) in Mildenhall, Suffolk, UK, to act as the primary operational and development vehicle for Pump.fun. Tweedale, Cohen, and Kerler were listed as directors, with Tweedale acting as CEO. An American citizen, Adrian Konstantinov, briefly served as a director from January 2024 until his resignation in March 2024. Registered Office Address Changes: Baton Corporation's registered address has been modified multiple times in official registries. Initially registered in Arley, Worcestershire, it was updated on April 1, 2024, to Union Street, Oxford (near student housing), and shortly after, on April 9, 2024, to a service address on James Carter Road in Mildenhall. This geographic transition charts their growth from a student dorm startup to a highly profitable corporate structure. Sister Entity - Pump Subscriptions Ltd: Alongside Baton Corporation, Tweedale and Cohen founded Pump Subscriptions Ltd (Company No. 15263116) on November 6, 2023, utilizing a communications address in Berlin, Germany. This company operates as a secondary node within their broader brand and influence matrix. The Inception of Pump.fun: The team registered the pump.fun domain on September 19, 2023, and officially deployed the platform on January 19, 2024. By providing a simplified "no-code token launchpad" backed by a mathematical bonding curve, they enabled users to deploy a Solana-based token for less than $2, triggering a massive wave of retail adoption. Expansion Into PumpSwap: To capture 100% of the transaction fees and trading volume generated within their ecosystem, the founders launched PumpSwap in late March 2025. This automated market maker (AMM) decentralized exchange allows users to trade tokens and create native liquidity pools without relying on external protocols like Raydium. Strategic Evolution via Project Ascend: In September 2025, Cohen announced "Project Ascend," a structural evolution designed to shift the platform's focus from pure speculative meme coins to Creator Capital Markets (CCM). The update introduced Streamer Tokens and native live-streaming monetization, allowing web3 content creators to financialize their audiences and socials. 5. Asset Base and Influence Networks Core Protocol Revenue Assets: The most valuable cash-generating asset held by Baton Corporation is the Pump.fun smart contract suite. The protocol monetizes network activity by imposing a 1% swap fee on all trades executed on its bonding curve, alongside a 1.5 SOL listing fee once a token "graduates" to a secondary DEX. Liquid Treasury Reserves: Since its inception, the platform has generated between $800 million and $1 billion in cumulative protocol fees. On July 12, 2025, the team raised $600 million through its public PUMP token ICO, supplemented by $720 million from private institutional investors, resulting in a treasury windfall of over $1.3 billion in cash. In November 2025, during a market downturn, the team converted $436.5 million to $465.5 million worth of crypto assets into USDC stablecoins to lock in profits. Intangible Influence Assets: Cohen's personal online profile "alon" and the official "@pumpdotfun" social media channels are highly influential marketing assets within the meme coin ecosystem. Capable of directing millions of dollars in capital flow with a single update or buyback announcement, these profiles command the attention of "the trenches". 6. Venture Capitalists and Strategic Partnerships Incubator Support - Alliance DAO: Alliance DAO was the earliest and most critical institutional backer of Pump.fun. Its co-founder, Qiao Wang, focused his investment thesis on the quality of the founders rather than the initial product idea, guiding the team through early structural hurdles and publicly defending the platform against market criticism. Exchange Listings and Partners: Major decentralized and centralized exchanges, including Bybit and Kraken, partnered with Pump.fun to facilitate the PUMP token ICO in July 2025. The public demand on Bybit was so intense that an unexpected API delay occurred due to oversubscription, while Kraken supported early margin trading of the token. Systemic Solana Infrastructure Ties: As the platform expanded, Pump.fun became deeply integrated with Solana's core consensus layer. Plaintiffs in federal court filings argue that Baton Corporation did not operate in isolation; instead, they allege a tight coordination with Solana Labs, the Solana Foundation (co-founded by Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal), and Jito Labs to extract high-frequency trading fees from users. 7. Business Model and Tokenomics Evolution Frictionless Creation Architecture: Traditional token launches required engineering expertise and substantial upfront capital for liquidity pools. Pump.fun bypassed these barriers by enabling anyone to launch a token for under $2 by filling out a basic metadata sheet and uploading an image. Mathematical Bonding Curve Pricing: When a token is created, 1 billion units are minted, with 800 million allocated to the bonding curve and 200 million reserved for the creator. The curve utilizes a non-linear mathematical formula: as buying pressure increases, the price of the token rises exponentially, incentivizing early speculators through massive paper returns. Swap Fee Monetization: During the bonding curve phase, Baton Corporation extracts a flat 1% trading commission on every transaction. This high-frequency fee-collection model proved exceptionally profitable during market cycles of intense on-chain volume. Automated Graduation Protocol: Once a token reaches a preset market cap threshold (approximately $69,000 to $90,000, or roughly 420 SOL) on the bonding curve, it graduates. The smart contract automatically migrates the accumulated SOL and remaining tokens to a decentralized liquidity pool (historically Raydium, now PumpSwap) and permanently burns the liquidity provider (LP) tokens to prevent manual liquidity drainage. PUMP Token Distribution and Buyback Deflation: The PUMP token launched on July 12, 2025, with a max supply of 1 trillion tokens, of which 33% was distributed via public ICO (15%) and private institutional rounds (18%). Under Project Ascend, the platform channels its transaction revenues into buying back and burning PUMP tokens on the open market, accumulating over $132 million in completed buybacks to date. Dynamic Creator Fees: Following the launch of Project Ascend, creator rewards for in-curve trading surged from 0.05% to 0.3%. Furthermore, for graduated tokens on PumpSwap, the protocol launched "Dynamic Fees V1," dynamically scaling creator fee royalties from 0.05% up to 0.95% based on token market cap, incentivizing long-term project development. 8. Key Decisions and Strategic Turning Points Switching Ethereum for Solana: In the design phase, the founders recognized that Ethereum’s gas fees and slow transaction throughput were incompatible with high-velocity retail micro-speculation. Deciding to deploy on Solana during a period of rising retail interest and low fee structures proved to be the pivotal choice that enabled the app's explosive scaling. Implementing Programmatic LP Burning: To address the pervasive issue of "rug pulls" in the DeFi space, the team programmatically locked and burned liquidity upon token graduation. This design decision allowed Pump.fun to market its launches as "rug-proof" and "fair," greatly reducing retail barrier anxiety. Launching the Proprietary PumpSwap AMM: In March 2025, the founders chose to break their reliance on external automated market makers such as Raydium. By developing PumpSwap, they retained millions of dollars in secondary swap fees within their own corporate ecosystem, establishing complete control over the token lifecycle. Transitioning to Creator Capital Markets: Facing intense competition from clone platforms like LetsBONK and pushback from regulators regarding "gambling" mechanics, the team decided to introduce Project Ascend in late 2025. This shifted the platform's narrative toward web3 content monetization and streamer social tokens, positioning Pump.fun as a creator economy platform. 9. Major Accomplishments and Market Impact Domain Dominance in Solana Metrics: Throughout 2025 and 2026, Pump.fun operated as the dominant hub of on-chain activity on Solana. It captured up to 62% of all launchpad-related transaction revenues and generated over $2 billion in decentralized trading volume in Q1 2026. The First $1 Billion Fee App: In just over a year of active operations, Pump.fun became the first decentralized application (dApp) in Solana's history to cross $1 billion in cumulative protocol fees, outperforming almost all venture-backed Web3 protocols in raw capital generation. Democratization of Token Launches: By offering immediate listing capability and eliminating insider presales, Pump.fun bypassed traditional financial gatekeepers like venture funds, market makers, and centralized exchanges. It shifted early-stage token pricing power entirely to retail hands, establishing a new speculation paradigm. Financialization of Attention: The platform successfully converted real-time internet trends, pop culture moments, and celebrity engagements (such as tokens backed by Iggy Azalea) into tradeable digital assets. It effectively financialized human attention, turning virality into immediate speculative markets. 10. Controversies, Security Exploits, and Federal Litigations Dylan Kerler’s Prior Scams Disclosed: In April 2025, an investigative report published by WIRED revealed that Kerler, at age 16, was linked to several early BitcoinTalk ICO scams such as eBitcoinCash and EthereumCash. This disclosure sparked outrage in the crypto community, as critics pointed out that a platform marketed on the premise of "preventing rug pulls" was built by a developer who had allegedly profited from them in his youth. The "Stacc Attack" Exploitation: In May 2024, Pump.fun suffered a severe insider exploit when a former employee, Jarett Reginald Dunn (operating under the alias STACCoverflow), utilized administrative privileges to compromise the platform’s bonding curve contracts. Using flash loans, Dunn drained $1.9 million in SOL and randomly distributed it to various ecosystem addresses (including Saga, Stacc, and Slerf holders), framing the exploit as a theatrical protest against Baton Corporation's predatory business model. Dunn was later apprehended by law enforcement in London and released on bail. Stream Extremism and the Gen Z Quant Affair: The platform’s integrated streaming features quickly devolved into controversy. Creators resorted to extreme attention-seeking behaviors, including simulated prison broadcasts, explicit content, and Russian roulette, to pump their token valuations, forcing the platform to temporarily ban the live feature in November 2024. The same month, a 13-year-old child ("Gen Z Quant") launched a token, dumped his entire 5% supply live on stream for $50,000, and was subsequently doxed by angry retail buyers who retaliated by pumping the token's market cap to $85 million. State-Sponsored Laundering Allegations: Court documents reveal that the sanctioned North Korean state-sponsored hacking syndicate, the Lazarus Group, utilized the permissionless pools of Pump.fun to launder over $1 million. Plaintiffs argue this constitutes unlicensed money transmission and a direct violation of US sanctions and banking secrecy regulations. The $5.5 Billion Federal civil RICO Class Action: On January 16, 2025, investor Kendall Carnahan filed a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) against Baton Corporation and its three founders, alleging the systemic sale of unregistered securities (such as the $PNUT token). On January 30, 2025, another class action was filed by Diego Aguilar, alleging predatory pricing structures and deceptive marketing. On June 26, 2025, Judge McMahon consolidated the cases and appointed Michael Okafor—who had suffered the highest individual loss of approximately $242,000—as the lead plaintiff. On July 22, 2025, the plaintiffs filed a Consolidated Amended Complaint, introducing civil RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges and seeking $5.5 billion in damages. The lawsuit expanded its scope to include Solana Labs, the Solana Foundation (along with executives Anatoly Yakovenko, Raj Gokal, Dan Albert, Austin Federa, Lily Liu), and Jito Labs as defendants, alleging a coordinated enterprise that manipulated transaction order flow to extract retail funds. Cease and Desist Over Intellectual Property: In February 2025, the plaintiffs' legal counsel, Burwick Law and Wolf Popper, issued a formal cease and desist demand to Baton Corporation. They alleged that the platform allowed anonymous users to launch over 200 tokens (such as DOGSHIT2) utilizing the law firms' logos, names, and employees' likenesses in an effort to harass and intimidate the plaintiffs during active federal litigation. X Platform Bans: On June 17, 2025, Cohen's personal account @a1lon9 and the official @pumpdotfun handle were suspended by X without explanation. Although the accounts were reinstated within 24 hours, the incident highlighted the platform's vulnerability to centralized social media distribution channels. 11. Current Operational Status and Structural Legacy Post-Launch Treasury Resilience: Despite the PUMP token's initial post-listing crash (which saw the token drop below $0.003 due to zero-lockup venture dumping), Pump.fun successfully stabilized its economy in mid-2026. Supported by aggressive protocol buybacks and the Project Ascend fee revamp, it reclaimed 62% of Solana’s launchpad revenues. Venture Pivot - The Pump Fund: On January 19, 2026, Pump.fun launched its formal investment branch, "Pump Fund". Cohen noted that the fund aims to provide long-term capital, mentorship, and tokenized liquidity to early-stage startups across both crypto and non-crypto verticals, attempting to export their high-velocity funding model to traditional venture sectors. Multi-Million Dollar Recruitment of a Chief Legal Officer: Facing regulatory pressure from the SEC, CFTC, FinCEN, and OFAC, Baton Corporation posted a job listing on June 24, 2026, offering a base salary of $1 million to $5 million per year for a Chief Legal Officer (CLO). The role is designed to oversee cross-border compliance, handle SEC unregistered security claims, and manage the ongoing $5.5 billion class-action litigation. Permanent Footprint in Crypto: Pump.fun has left a polarized legacy in the digital asset space. For its supporters, it represents the ultimate democratization of permissionless finance; for its critics and global regulators, it stands as a digital casino that institutionalized predatory value extraction at the expense of retail protection.