Grayscale Investments, the prominent digital asset manager, has included the Solana-based meme coin BONK in its Q1 2026 "Assets Under Consideration" update. This marks the first significant vote of confidence from traditional finance (TradFi) for BONK, potentially paving the way for its inclusion in regulated U.S. investment products. The move follows Grayscale's launch of its spot Dogecoin ETF (GDOG), which has seen strong inflows, demonstrating institutional appetite for meme coins.
The potential approval of a BONK-related product would represent a major shift for the token, which has historically relied on retail-driven momentum, opening the door to institutional-grade demand. However, significant regulatory hurdles remain. BONK does not meet the SEC's generic listing standards for fast-tracked ETF approval, meaning any product would need to navigate the more complex 19b-4 and S-1 filing process.
Concurrently, the Solana meme coin launchpad BonkFun has announced a dramatic shift in its fee structure, introducing "BONK Classic" launches with zero creator fees and a reduced 0.30% swap fee, with most of that fee routed back into liquidity. The platform framed this as an effort to "bring the trenches back to their former glory," mirroring the fee-free model that dominated explosive meme coin runs in 2024.
The fee reset comes amid intense competition in the Solana launchpad space. Data from the past 24 hours shows rival platform Pump.fun leading with nearly 30,000 new tokens launched and over $109 million in trading volume, compared to BonkFun's under 2,000 new tokens and about $8 million in volume. BonkFun's move follows Pump.fun's own recent overhaul of creator incentives, signaling a renewed battle for market share as meme coin activity remains high but fragmented.
BonkFun, a joint venture between the BONK community and Raydium launched in April 2025, quickly became a central hub for no-code meme coin creation on Solana. At its peak, it captured over 55% of Solana's token issuance. Its original model routed a portion of platform revenue into BONK buybacks and burns, but this has come under pressure as market conditions shifted.
The market reaction to these developments has been positive for BONK. The token was trading around $0.000012, up more than 8% over 24 hours, with trading volume surging nearly 86% to over $300 million.
