In the constantly changing domain of memecoins based on Solana, few happenings have caught the attention of the community like the emergence of $GLONK.
This green, reptilian token incited a full-on launchpad rivalry, and it all began with one of the whimsical nods that memecoins are so good at: $GLONK was said to be modeled after—and this is quite a stretch, given how closely guarded the details of the token’s genesis were— “a character from Ricky Gervais’ Flanimals series.” But $GLONK was much more than that. It spun out a full-on showdown between two of the memecoin scene’s leading lights, Pump.fun and LetsBONK.fun.
And the theater of the war? The blockchain, of course.
A Memecoin is Born—Twice
When an image of Glonk, one of his fictional creatures, was posted to social media by Ricky Gervais, the crypto community reacted almost instantly. Within minutes, a token named $GLONK was created on Pump.fun, with its rapid deployment confirmed by Solscan here: solscan.io/tx/qwhf1PFMsGy….
Yet, the narrative did not conclude there.
Merely three minutes later, another $GLONK token showed up—this time on LetsBONK.fun. The almost simultaneous launches sparked confusion, excitement, and in the end, competition. It didn’t take long for the two tokens to evolve into symbols of a burgeoning turf war between launchpad platforms.
Qwerty, a crypto influencer, brought both tokens into the light on X (formerly Twitter), effectively dousing them with gas and setting them on fire. The two founders of these platforms—@a1lon9 of Pump.fun and @SolportTom of LetsBONK.fun—were soon dragged into the whole ordeal and started exchanging blows, as their communities each funneled tokens into their own versions of $GLONK.
LetsBONK.fun Strikes First—and Hard
Even though both tokens gathered some initial traction, the LetsBONK.fun version shot up much faster.
To express his support, @SolportTom bought 246,000 $GLONK tokens for $700 in a very public way using his transparent wallet.
To the community, this purchase looked a lot like a vote of confidence, and much to everyone’s surprise, the market cap for $GLONK on LetsBONK.fun shot up to $17 million within hours of launch, peaking at $18 million.
The Pump.fun version of $GLONK had its moment too, peaking at a $15 million market cap. But its actual value is around $816,000, putting it way behind its competitor.
The last 24 hours of trading volumes show just how far the dominance of LetsBONK.fun extends right now. The site saw $82 million in trading volume over the last day; by contrast, Pump.fun saw only $56 million. That trading volume gap—$26 million—clearly shows that traders prefer LetsBONK.fun to Pump.fun right now. And as trading volumes reflect a site’s monetary health and trading activity, these numbers suggest a site that’s twice as “healthy” as its competition.
The Fall of a Giant—and the Rise of the Meme Renaissance
For a long time, Pump.fun was the place to go for launching memecoins, hosting more than 98% of the daily tokens that were launching. Now, its share has dropped to just 57.5%. In contrast, LetsBONK.fun has launched almost 18% of the memecoins that have dropped in the same timeframe, with not much else in the way of challengers in the executive memecoin launching space.
A green reptile called $GLONK launched on both https://t.co/DrKlYnPhBq and https://t.co/TzYi4DnEkg—sparking a memecoin civil war between platforms.
1/ Let's take a look at what happened on-chain.🧵 pic.twitter.com/D8FNWeGQwI
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) May 14, 2025
This shift is not driven just by $GLONK. Other emerging meme tokens—like $LAUNCHCOIN, $GOONC, $DUPE, and $Hosico—have gained traction and found real success on new platforms, especially LetsBONK.fun and Believe. They are part of a gradual transformation that is threatening to leave Pump.fun behind.
To regain momentum, Pump.fun has launched a fee-sharing model that sends half of its platform fees to the creators of the tokens used on the platform. This is a shift from their previous business model and the founders plan to use this re-engaged community to build more better projects.
At the same time, pressure is being maintained by LetsBONK.fun. The platform recently declared a reward pool of $15,000 for new projects, which serves to reinforce its commitment to supporting creators and to growing a community-driven platform.
It’s About More Than Just Launching Tokens Now
The Glonk incident has become emblematic of something far more consequential. In today’s memecoin ecosystem, it seems, success can no longer claim to be exclusively the province of those who can launch the fastest or muster the mightiest big-name endorsements. Community engagement, cultural relevance, creator incentives, and good old-fashioned viral attention appear to be what it takes to win in the new crypto reality.
The mad gold rush for memecoins isn’t finished. But the game is definitely changing.
It’s no longer enough to be a memecoin or a community-driven token. If you want to be in the conversation and gain some adoption, you’ve got to have a product or an adequate backup plan.
Regarding $GLONK, whether you support Team Pump or Team BONK, you can be certain of one thing—it’s not merely a meme. It’s a movement.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.
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