A token launchpad called Pons generated $5.95 million in fees in a single day on Robinhood Chain, the brokerage's Ethereum Layer-2 network. The protocol running on top of the chain is now producing more fee revenue than the chain itself.

Pons, which launched alongside Robinhood Chain on July 1, 2026, has rapidly become the dominant force on the network. Depending on the day, it accounts for between 50% and 80% of all activity on the chain. Cumulative fees have surpassed $56 million in roughly two months of operation.

The model echoes a playbook already proven elsewhere in crypto: token launchpads on other chains, most notably pump.fun on Solana, have shown that memecoin creation and trading can generate enormous fee revenue when friction is low and distribution is built in. Pons brings that model to an Ethereum Layer-2 with the added distribution advantage of sitting directly inside a mainstream brokerage's ecosystem, potentially exposing it to Robinhood's large retail user base.

The numbers behind the surge

The $5.95 million record was set on September 1, following a $5.34 million day on August 30. Over the trailing 30-day window, Pons collected approximately $40.84 million in total fees.

Pons frequently captures more than 59% of all new token launches and trading volume on Robinhood Chain. Its fee structure is a 1% trading fee on every transaction, split 70/30. Creators receive the larger share, while the remaining 30% flows to the protocol itself, funding buybacks and burns of the native PONS token.

The burn mechanism has been aggressive. Roughly 27% to 29% of the total PONS supply has already been permanently removed from circulation since launch. The token has recently traded around $0.50, with its market cap hovering in the range of $150 million to $300 million.

From RWA ambitions to memecoin reality

Robinhood Chain originally positioned itself around real-world asset tokenization, an area where traditional financial institutions have increasingly explored tokenized funds and securities on public blockchains. Pons turned the chain into a memecoin factory instead. The platform's launchpad model, boosted by the recent Pons V2 upgrade, introduced bonding curves that funnel into locked Uniswap v4 liquidity positions. Users create tokens, trading begins immediately on a bonding curve, and once certain thresholds are reached, liquidity is permanently locked on Uniswap v4.

The permanent liquidity locking addresses one of the chronic problems with token launchpads, where creators can pull liquidity and leave buyers holding worthless tokens — the classic "rug pull" that has plagued memecoin markets since their earliest days.

Gas fees and growing pains

Pons' dominance is having real consequences for the broader Robinhood Chain ecosystem. Gas fees on the network surged to a record $3.75 million in a single day in early September, driven largely by Pons-related activity. Heavy launchpad activity concentrating gas costs is a pattern seen on other networks as well, where memecoin trading waves have repeatedly congested chains and pushed up fees for all users.

Competition is another factor to watch. Lower-fee alternatives exist across the crypto landscape, and launchpad protocols on other chains are eager to attract the same crowd of memecoin traders. The 1% fee that powers Pons' revenue figures also acts as a tax on every trade, and memecoin trading activity has historically proven highly cyclical, surging during hype phases and cooling sharply afterward.

The PONS token's deflationary mechanics add another layer of complexity. With nearly a third of supply already burned, continued trading activity could create meaningful supply pressure. However, deflationary models only work when demand persists. If trading volumes on the launchpad cool off, the burns slow down too.