BonkFun announced on January 14, that it has set creator fees to 0% for a new launch format called BONK Classic. The platform said the change is intended to lure projects and traders back to the Solana meme-coin launch market and recapture the momentum of the 2024 period.
The platform originally launched as LetsBONK.fun in April 2025 and, by July 2025, had overtaken a rival, Pump.fun, in market share, according to the platform’s timeline. BonkFun framed the 2024 era as a peak for meme-coin activity on Solana, when Raydium-based tokens and “fair launch” economics—often with minimal or no creator fees—drove rapid market expansion and deep liquidity.
BonkFun’s leadership has publicly acknowledged that its earlier creator-fee model, used to fund buybacks, burns and platform operations, increasingly generated community friction. As per BonkFun COO Solport Tom, those fees “had become a contentious issue,” prompting the platform to reassess incentives.
The move follows earlier platform growth and a backlash against fee structures that the company says had become divisive for its community.
What changed: BONK Classic and the retained BONKERS option
BonkFun introduced two distinct launch paths. BONK Classic removes creator fees entirely, aiming to lower the financial barrier for new projects and prioritize liquidity and smoother price action for traders. The platform says this echoes the trader-centric economics that dominated the 2024 meme-coin cycle.
At the same time BonkFun kept its alternative, BONKERS, which offers reduced swap fees—by as much as 50%—while allowing materially higher creator fees for communities that want to preserve long-term revenue. Rewards under BONKERS are consolidated into a single quoted asset to simplify distribution.
In platform messaging BonkFun stated, “Everyone agrees creator fees are too damn high. Today is the first step in bringing the trenches back to their former glory,” framing the change as corrective and community-focused.
The zero-fee pivot is a clear competitive gambit in the meme-coin launchpad landscape. By removing upfront creator charges, BonkFun seeks to restore the conditions that historically encouraged broad token distribution and speculative liquidity.
Investors and market participants will closely watch the performance of upcoming BONK Classic launches as the practical test of this strategy. If those launches deliver deeper liquidity and cleaner price discovery, the model could prompt rivals to recalibrate fee economics.
