Author | Asher(@Asher_ 0210)
The 'P Army' had already memed hard even before the Pools.trade frontend officially opened.
At 00:00 on August 5th, with a 24-hour countdown to the official launch of Uniswap's Pools.trade beginning. During this countdown period, the community found the platform's early-deployed contracts ahead of time, directly trading the already-issued tokens on-chain. By the time the Pools.trade frontend officially opened, these early contracts had already accumulated over $150 million in trading volume.
Regarding this, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams stated that the massive volume of early transactions forced the team to re-adjust the website and data indexing, simultaneously making it compatible with both test and final version contracts, which disrupted the originally planned launch schedule.
This sense of disarray shown by a DeFi veteran like Uniswap felt somewhat 'amateurish,' yet the trading data was undeniably high. Dune data shows that on August 5th alone (the frontend didn't officially open until the morning of August 6th Beijing time, with most of this volume generated pre-launch), Pools.trade trading volume reached $99.1 million, accounting for approximately 54.2% of the total trading volume on the Robinhood Chain token launch platform that day, far exceeding the previously top-ranked Pons for two weeks.
Pools.trade: The Token Launch Platform Introduced by Uniswap Itself
Project Overview
Pools.trade is a token launch platform launched by Uniswap Labs on Robinhood Chain. Officially positioned as a Meme coin launchpad, users can create new tokens, discover new coins, and trade—all on the same page. Each token has a fixed total supply of 1 billion tokens, ultimately entering Uniswap v4 with liquidity permanently locked.
Tokens launched on Pools.trade are immediately integrated into the Uniswap web interface, wallet, Launches page, and Trading API, reaching MetaMask, Ledger, and multiple DEX aggregators. Compared to new platforms starting from scratch to find trading entry points, Pools.trade launched with Uniswap's ready-made user base and distribution channels.
Two Launch Methods
Pools.trade offers Instant Launch and Crowd Launch modes, respectively:
- Instant Launch: Launch immediately. After the creator fills in the name, ticker, image, and description, the token opens for trading directly. The price fluctuates with market buying and selling, with no minimum market cap requirement or fixed end time.
- Crowd Launch: Employs a four-hour launch window. Participants submit budgets in advance, with orders executed progressively throughout the remaining time—typically the earlier the participation, the lower the price. After the launch ends, if the token's FDV reaches $10,000, it enters trading; if it fails to meet the threshold, all participating funds are refunded. This mode primarily aims to reduce the impact of bot front-running and bundle transactions at launch.
The Platform's Most Prominent Feature: Trading Fees Only a Quarter of Pons and Flap
Pools.trade does not charge additional launchpad fees. Each transaction incurs a 0.25% Uniswap v4 pool fee. If the creator enables the fee split, 0.05% goes to the creator, and 0.20% is automatically reinvested into the permanently locked liquidity pool. Uniswap Labs does not take a share.
Trading fees for both Pons and Flap are 1%. Calculating with $10 million in trading volume: Pools.trade generates $25,000 in fees, with the token creator receiving $5,000; Pons generates $100,000 in fees, and based on a 70% creator share, the token creator would receive $70,000.
Pools.trade lowers transaction costs and keeps most of the fees within the liquidity; Pons and Flap offer higher direct income incentives for token creators. The former benefits trading more, while the latter provides more direct motivation for creators.
For a detailed introduction, recommended reading: "Uniswap Launches Token Launch Platform Pools.trade, Reshuffling the Robinhood Launchpad Ecosystem?".
Only Two Tokens Surpass $1 Million Market Cap, Early Minting Raises Fairness Concerns
Compared to the impressive number of token launches and platform trading volume, Pools.trade has not yet produced a high-market-cap Meme coin. As of now, only two tokens on Pools.trade have a market cap above $1 million, namely FRONG and POOLS; additionally, tokens with a market cap above $400,000 include HOOKR, UNIPEG, CHWDR, and PosM.
FRONG: Market Cap Once Touched $18 Million
FRONG is currently the highest-market-cap Meme on Pools.trade. At 00:00 on August 5th, Uniswap's official Twitter account began the 24-hour countdown for Pools.trade's launch, posting a video of a frog "playing" by a pond.
After the tweet was posted, the community quickly noticed the frog-themed Meme coin—FRONG—issued through the Pools.trade early contract and began to view it as the platform's mascot concept coin. Driven by this FOMO sentiment, FRONG's market cap briefly touched $18 million.
However, FRONG had already been minted via contract before Uniswap even started the Pools.trade launch countdown. On-chain records show that FRONG was minted and a trading pool was established as early as July 30th, five days before Uniswap's countdown announcement; related contracts were even deployed roughly three weeks prior, at that time with no indication of affiliation with Uniswap or Pools.trade.
As this time gap was discovered, questions arose about the fairness of FRONG's launch, and its market cap rapidly retreated from its highs. Even after Pools.trade officially launched yesterday at 00:00, FRONG did not receive strong community enthusiasm, its market cap remaining below $10 million, currently reported at around $7 million.
POOLS: Market Cap Once Broke $4 Million
POOLS, currently the second-highest market cap token on Pools.trade, shares a similar situation with FRONG—it was also a Meme coin minted before the platform's official launch.
Compared to FRONG's "frog mascot" narrative, POOLS's logic is more direct—its name matches the platform, so the community treated it as the Pools.trade concept coin. Its market cap once exceeded $4 million before falling back to around $1.8 million.
FRONG relied on the "frog mascot" narrative, POOLS on the platform's namesake—both should have had higher market cap expectations. However, both faced diminished community FOMO sentiment due to the "insider trading" controversy arising from early minting, resulting in market caps below $10 million.
The most fundamental logic of Meme coins is that everyone wants to believe they are starting from the same line. Once fairness is questioned, even the best token narrative struggles to sustain spontaneous community propagation. This is perhaps why Pools.trade, despite impressive data, has yet to produce a high-market-cap Meme coin.
However, Uniswap stands behind Pools.trade, and Robinhood Chain is one of the most discussed public chains for Memes at the moment. Currently, the platform lacks not for traffic, but for a new narrative that is intriguing enough and free from "insider trading" controversy. The first "speedrun" on Pools.trade might not be far off.
