Original author: Biteye core contributor Viee

Original editor: Biteye core contributor Denise

From Meme to AI Agent, Launchpad is also exploring how to link it with traditional equity.

We selected 10 representative platforms, analyzed their unique mechanisms, and discussed how retail investors should play to seize opportunities and avoid pitfalls.

1. Permissionless Platform

1. Heaven

Mechanism: Heaven is a newly emerging AMM+Launchpad platform that 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 in the dividends directly. In contrast, Pump.fun, while profitable, lacks this reward mechanism.

Earnings performance: $LIGHT has seen consecutive increases in value for a week after its launch, with its market capitalization exceeding $100 million. The ongoing repurchase and destruction mechanism has greatly enhanced market confidence.

2. Zora

Mechanism: Zora is a social + creator economy protocol on the Base chain. The core gameplay is that publishing content equals launching projects. When you post a text or image, it automatically emits assets.

Earnings performance: $ZORA once increased 10 times for 20 consecutive days. In April of this year, the official account of Coinbase Base chain posted a message "Base is for everyone", and assets were automatically minted. Many people thought it was official, and they rushed to buy it, driving the market value to 17 million US dollars, and then quickly fell back 90%.

3. Believe

Mechanism: Believe, formerly Clout, initially focused on celebrity social networking 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.

Return Performance: $LAUNCHCOIN surged 50-fold in three days, reaching a market capitalization of $300 million. $PASTERNAK, which had nearly hit zero before the name change, surged from $1 million to $22 million in the 24 hours following the name change. Many platform projects have also offered retail investors opportunities to make ten times or more.

4. Pump.fun

Mechanism: Pump.fun is considered a pioneer in the on-chain asset issuance trend, having taken the meme-based approach to a new level. Simply upload your name, logo, and description to automatically generate a contract and initial liquidity pool. Pricing is determined using a bonding curve model: the more buyers, the higher the price. Once the market capitalization reaches a specified threshold, the smart contract automatically migrates liquidity to an external DEX, seamlessly connecting to the broader market.

Revenue performance: As the number one permissionless platform, Pump.fun has produced countless well-known meme projects, so I won’t go into details.

5. Bonk.fun

Mechanism: The BONK community launched this platform in April 2025. Its gameplay is similar 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.

Profit performance: The internet-famous cat $HOSICO (peak market capitalization of $60 million USD, a 6-fold increase) and $USELESS (peak market capitalization of nearly $300 million USD, a more than 10-fold increase). Overall, projects with community support are more likely to break through.

6. Virtuals

Mechanism: Virtuals focuses on the AI Agent track. Users need to lock $VIRTUAL to create an Agent and build a pool. After reaching the joint curve threshold, they can "graduate" and generate a liquidity pool paired with $VIRTUAL.

Earnings Performance: After the early-year hype faded, Genesis Launch reignited the market, with $VIRTUAL rebounding 150% in a week and the ecosystem following suit. New project $BasisOS saw its market capitalization reach $5.5 million within 12 days of its launch, with a peak increase of 40-fold.

2. Requires a licensed platform

Unlike "no threshold" launchpads, this type of launchpad will undergo strict screening and take a quality-first approach.

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. Ultimately, the lead investor receives a share of the profits. Echo requires users to complete KYC verification, such as through email and Twitter accounts, making it a relatively small community.

Revenue performance: Echo has facilitated financing for some popular projects, such as Ethena, Morph, Usual, Hyperlane, etc., and the project development has been relatively stable after the private placement was completed.

2. Buidlpad

Mechanism: Buildpad is a public offering platform launched by former Binance executive Erick Zhang at the end of 2024. Unlike Echo's private placement, which is focused on a small circle, Buildpad 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.

Performance: Solayer exceeded its fundraising by 5 times, with a 240% increase on TGE; Sahara exceeded its fundraising by 8 times, with a 120% increase on TGE. Next, @Lombard_Finance will also launch a community round pre-sale on Buildingpad.

3. Kaito

Mechanism: In July, the Kaito team announced the launch of Capital Launchpad, an on-chain angel investment platform similar to Echo, but the allocation method is not based on hand speed, but on indicators such as on-chain holdings and social reputation.

Revenue performance: The first project, Espresso, was valued at RMB 400 million. The second project, Theoriq, was valued at RMB 75 million.

4. Ventuals

Mechanism: Ventures allows ordinary users to participate in pre-IPO trading, but rather than issuing actual shares, they issue perpetual synthetic assets that track company valuations. Based on Hyperliquid's HIP-3 standard, it transforms private company equity into on-chain derivatives, traded like "shadow stocks." In contrast, PreStocks and Jarsy are 1:1 pegged to actual shares, more closely resembling the traditional securities model.

Earnings performance: As of August 20, the 24-hour increase in the Ventuals project ranged from 5% to 30%.

3. Launchpad moat: fairness, threshold, or ecosystem?

As we've seen from the previous examples, Launchpad platforms are almost always "popular with each new version," relying on two key factors: creating differentiated assets and retaining traffic within the platform. Furthermore, several other key dimensions are crucial:

1. Fairness: Heaven ties the interests of users and the platform together through repurchase and destruction. On the contrary, if it is controlled by robots and insider trading, the retail investor experience will collapse.

2. Threshold: Echo’s invitation system creates a barrier to a small circle, and Believe attracts people through the social network effect. These are difficult to replicate.

3. Project resources: A platform that can continuously attract good projects will form a "stronger and stronger" environment.

4. Model innovation: Heaven's integration, Zora's content creation, and Believe's social triggering are all first-mover advantages.

4. Retail Investor Strategy: How to seize Launchpad opportunities and avoid being buried?

1. First, consider your preferences: If you like gambling, you can play on an unlicensed platform, where you can get good returns with a small amount of capital; if you want stability, choose a licensed platform, where the project quality is more guaranteed.

2. Control your position: Don’t go all-in. High-risk positions should not exceed 10%–20% of your total funds.

3. Follow the market rhythm: Meme, AI, Heaven, and Zora are all rotating hot spots. If a platform suddenly becomes popular, there will often be short-term opportunities.

⚠️Risk warning: For reference only, not investment advice.