Author: Biteye Core Contributor Viee
Editor: Biteye Core Contributor Denise
From Meme to AI Agent, the exploration of Launchpad linked to traditional equity is also underway.
We selected 10 representative platforms, dissected their unique mechanisms, and discussed how retail investors should play to seize opportunities while avoiding pitfalls.
01. Permissionless Platforms
1.Heaven
Mechanism: Heaven is a newly emerging AMM + Launchpad platform, integrating issuance and trading, allowing projects to operate without migrating to external DEXs. All transaction fees remain on the platform for repurchasing and destroying $LIGHT, and holders can directly share dividends. In contrast, while Pump.fun is profitable, it lacks this feedback mechanism.
Performance: $LIGHT rose continuously in the week following its launch, surpassing a market cap of $100 million; the ongoing buyback and burn mechanism greatly enhanced market confidence.
2.Zora
Mechanism: Zora is a social + creator economy protocol on the Base chain, with the core gameplay being that publishing content = launching projects. When you post a text or image, it will automatically launch assets.
Performance: $ZORA pulled up 10 times for 20 consecutive days, and in April this year, Coinbase Base's official account tweeted 'Base is for everyone', which led to automatically minted assets, many people thought it was official, resulting in a rush that inflated the market cap to $17 million, only to quickly drop back by 90%.
3.Believe
Mechanism: Believe was originally Clout, which first played in the 'celebrity circle', later shifted to social assetization, which popularized the ICM narrative. Users only need to tweet with @launchcoin on Twitter to automatically generate a project. After surpassing a market cap of $100,000, it will also automatically list on trading platforms like Meteora.
Performance: $LAUNCHCOIN once surged 50 times in 3 days, reaching a market cap of $300 million. Its former name $PASTERNAK was close to zero, but after rebranding, it surged from $1 million to $22 million in 24 hours. Many platform projects have also provided retail investors with opportunities exceeding tenfold.
4.Pump.fun
Mechanism: Pump.fun can be considered the pioneer of the on-chain asset issuance wave, directly exploding the Meme gameplay. By uploading a name, logo, introduction, etc., a contract and initial liquidity pool can be automatically generated. The pricing uses a joint curve model; the more buyers there are, the higher the price. When the market cap reaches a specified threshold, the smart contract will also automatically migrate liquidity to external DEXs, seamlessly accessing a larger market.
Performance: As the number one permissionless platform, Pump.fun has given birth to numerous well-known Meme projects, and there is no need to elaborate further.
5.Bonk.fun
Mechanism: The BONK community launched a platform in April 2025, with gameplay similar to Pump.fun, but emphasizing community dividends. A portion of the transaction fees will be returned to BONK holders and ecosystem builders, strengthening community incentives.
Performance: The internet-famous cat $HOSICO (with a peak market cap of $60 million, a 6-fold increase), $USELESS (with a peak market cap of nearly $300 million, a more than 10-fold increase). Overall, projects supported by the community are more likely to break through the encirclement.
6.Virtuals
Mechanism: Virtuals focuses on the AI Agent track, requiring users to lock $VIRTUAL to create Agents and build pools, and upon reaching the joint curve threshold, they can 'graduate' and generate liquidity pools paired with $VIRTUAL.
Performance: After the initial excitement faded at the beginning of the year, Genesis Launch reignited the market, with $VIRTUAL rebounding 150% in a week, and the ecosystem following suit. The new project $BasisOS launched with a market cap of $5.5 million in just 12 days, with a peak increase of 40 times.
02. Permissioned Platforms
Unlike 'no threshold', this type of Launchpad will strictly screen projects, prioritizing quality.
1.Echo
Mechanism: Echo can be understood as an 'on-chain angel investment alliance'. The way it works is that a leading investor initiates an investment group and shares project opportunities they acquire with the group, allowing everyone to co-invest, and finally the lead investor takes a certain dividend. Echo requires users to verify KYC through email, Twitter accounts, etc., making it more of a small circle.
Performance: Echo has facilitated financing for some popular projects, such as Ethena, Morph, Usual, Hyperlane, etc. After the private placement, the project's development has been relatively stable.
2.Buidlpad
Mechanism: Buidlpad is a public fundraising platform launched by former Binance executive Erick Zhang at the end of 2024. Unlike Echo's small circle private placements, Buidlpad strictly requires KYC but is more aimed at the public. It launched its first project, Solayer's LAYER public offering, in January this year.
Performance: Solayer oversubscribed by 5 times, with a TGE increase of 240% on the day; Sahara oversubscribed by 8 times, with a TGE increase of 120% on the same day. Next, @Lombard_Finance will also launch a community round pre-sale on Buidlpad.
3.Kaito
Mechanism: In July, the Kaito team announced plans to launch Capital Launchpad, similar to Echo's on-chain angel investment platform, but the distribution method is based on on-chain holdings, social reputation, and other metrics rather than speed.
Performance: The first project Espresso was valued at 400 million. The second project Theoriq was valued at 75 million.
4.Ventuals
Mechanism: Ventuals allows ordinary users to participate in Pre-IPO, but instead of issuing real stocks, it issues perpetual synthetic assets that track company valuations. It is based on Hyperliquid's HIP-3 standard, turning unlisted company equity into on-chain derivatives, trading like 'shadow stocks'. In contrast, PreStocks and Jarsy correspond to real stocks with a 1:1 peg, closer to traditional securities models.
Performance: As of August 20, the Ventuals project had a 24-hour increase ranging from 5%-30%.
03. Launchpad Moat: Competing on fairness, thresholds, or ecosystems?
From the previous cases, it can be seen that the Launchpad platform is almost always 'one version, one god', which relies on two points: creating differentiated assets and keeping traffic on the platform. On this basis, there are several particularly critical dimensions:
1. Fairness: Heaven binds the interests of users and the platform through buyback and destruction; conversely, if controlled by bots and insider trading, the retail investor experience will collapse.
2. Threshold: Echo's invitation system creates a small circle barrier, while Believe leverages social network effects to draw people in, making these hard to replicate.
3. Project Resources: A platform that can continuously attract good projects will create a 'stronger becomes stronger' effect.
4. Model Innovation: Heaven's integration, Zora's content creation, and Believe's social triggers all represent first-mover advantages.
04. Retail Investor Strategies: How to grasp Launchpad opportunities without getting buried?
1. First, Consider Preferences: If you like gambling, you can play on permissionless platforms, where small investments may yield good returns; if you want stability, choose permissioned platforms, where project quality is more reliable.
2. Control Position: Don't go all in; high-risk positions should ideally not exceed 10%-20% of total funds.
3. Follow Market Trends: Meme, AI, Heaven, and Zora are rotating hot spots; when a platform suddenly becomes popular, there is often a short-term opportunity.
⚠️ Risk Warning: For reference only, not investment advice.
