Pons launchpad fees crater 88% as Robinhood Chain hype cools

Pons, the busiest token launchpad on Robinhood Chain, is back where it started. Daily fees on the platform peaked at $11.4 million on Sept. 5, per Galaxy Research. By early November they had slumped to roughly $250,000 a day — about the same level as Aug. 20, before the frenzy kicked off.

The monthly numbers confirm it wasn't a one-day blip. DefiLlama data checked Nov. 8 shows October fees dropped 88% from September's $137.1 million. Adjusted for month length, average daily fees slid 88.2%, down to $540,600 from about $4.6 million. Galaxy's Nov. 6 chart note calls the whole cycle — under three months — a case study in how fast speculative money exits once attention drifts elsewhere.

Pons is an independent project that says on its website it has no affiliation with Robinhood Markets, though it runs on the chain Robinhood took to mainnet in July. One caveat on that $11.4 million peak: DefiLlama's methodology for Pons V2 records fees from graduated pools when they're swept, so a single day can fold in fees earned on earlier trades. Completed months smooth that timing out, making them the sturdier yardstick.

The revenue line shrank on both ends. DefiLlama counted about 17% of September's fees as Pons revenue; October's share came in near 15%. Pons keeps 30% of trading fees and sends 80% of that cut to buying and burning PONS, per its MiCA white paper — the rest splits 70% to token creators, roughly 6% to Pons Labs. Applying that split puts buybacks at about $18.7 million in September and $2 million in October, leaving Pons Labs roughly $4.7 million and then $0.5 million. Both figures are approximations, since the revenue line also carries small per-launch charges.

The white paper, notified to the Maltese regulator on Sept. 23 and published Oct. 22, describes PONS as a memecoin with no voting, governance or utility role — holders get the community forum and nothing more. Their only tie to trading income is the buyback-and-burn. More than 30% of the fixed one billion supply had already been burned by the filing date. Galaxy reported PONS market value, once above $600 million, had retraced to about $120 million, without dating the peak; burns muddy that comparison since market cap is price times circulating supply.

Next up is a clean test. At Galaxy's early-November rate, a 30-day month would generate about $7.5 million in fees. DefiLlama's November total, out once the month closes, will show whether that level held or the slide rolled into a third month. The white paper also sought admission to trading on EU platforms from Oct. 23, naming Kraken and OKX as targets without confirming any listings.