Bonding curve
 Image: original illustration, memecoin.wiki | |
| part of speech | noun |
|---|---|
| scene | Solana launchpads, pump.fun |
A pricing mechanism in which a smart contract sells tokens along a mathematical curve, raising the price as more of the supply is purchased.
A bonding curve is a pricing mechanism in which a smart contract sells a token along a mathematical formula, so that each purchase raises the price and each sale lowers it. The contract itself acts as the counterparty: buyers deposit SOL into the curve and receive tokens, and sellers return tokens to withdraw SOL. In the Solana trenches the term refers almost exclusively to the launch phase of a pump.fun style token, and traders speak of a coin being "on the curve" before graduation.
Mechanics
Pump.fun popularized a constant product design seeded with virtual reserves. Of each token's fixed supply of one billion, about 800 million are sold along the curve, and the contract begins with a virtual SOL balance (roughly 30 SOL in the original design) so that early prices are smooth rather than starting from zero. As buyers put real SOL in, the spot price climbs deterministically. When the curve sells out, at an indicative market cap near 69,000 dollars in the classic configuration, trading on the curve halts and the accumulated SOL is paired with the remaining supply as liquidity on a decentralized exchange. Because liquidity is created programmatically and the creator never custodies it, the classic liquidity withdrawal rug pull is impossible on the curve, though a dev can still dump supply.
Usage
Curve position is a core trenches statistic: a coin "at 30 percent" has sold that share of its curve. Early positions on the curve are the cheapest, which is why launches are contested by sniper bots and creator bundle buys. "Still on the curve" implies an early, illiquid, maximally risky token.
History
Bonding curves were explored in Ethereum token engineering research during the late 2010s, but the term entered mass retail vocabulary with pump.fun's launch in January 2024, which made the curve the default first market for millions of meme coins.