Original author: Asher, Odaily Planet Daily
At present, the platform does not lack traffic; what it lacks is a new narrative that is interesting enough and free from the controversy of "insider trading."
Before the official launch of the Pools.trade frontend, "P soldiers" had already started trading P tokens.
At 0:00 on August 5, there were 24 hours left before the official launch of Uniswap's Pools.trade. During the countdown, the community found the early contracts deployed by the platform in advance and directly bought and sold the issued tokens on-chain. By the time the Pools.trade frontend officially opened, these early contracts had already generated over $150 million in trading volume.
In response, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams said that the large amount of early trading forced the team to readjust the website and data indexing, while also having to be compatible with both test contracts and the final version of the contracts, disrupting the original launch schedule.
The sense of panic shown by a DeFi veteran like Uniswap is somewhat "amateurish," but the trading data is genuinely high. Dune data shows that on August 5 alone (the frontend did not officially open until the morning of August 6, and most trading volume was generated before the frontend launch), Pools.trade's trading volume reached $99.1 million, accounting for approximately 54.2% of the total trading volume on the Robinhood Chain token issuance platform that day, far exceeding Pons, which had dominated the charts for two weeks.
Pools.trade: Uniswap's own token issuance platform
Project Introduction
Pools.trade is a token issuance platform launched by Uniswap Labs on the Robinhood Chain. The official positioning is as a Meme coin launchpad, where users can issue tokens, discover new coins, and trade on the same page. Each token has a fixed total supply of 1 billion, ultimately entering Uniswap v4 with permanently locked liquidity.
Tokens issued on Pools.trade are immediately integrated into Uniswap's web interface, wallet, Launches page, and Trading API, and reach MetaMask, Ledger, and multiple DEX aggregators. Compared to new platforms that have to build trading entry points from scratch, Pools.trade already has Uniswap's existing users and distribution channels at launch.
Two Issuance Methods
Pools.trade offers two modes: Instant Launch and Crowd Launch, as follows:
· Instant Launch: Immediate token issuance. After the creator fills in the name, ticker, image, and description, the token is directly open for trading, with prices changing based on market buying and selling. There is no minimum market cap requirement or fixed end time;
· Crowd Launch: Uses a four-hour issuance window. Participants submit budgets in advance, and orders are gradually filled over the remaining time. Earlier participation typically results in lower prices. After the issuance ends, if the token's FDV reaches $10,000, it can enter trading; if the threshold is not met, all participant funds are returned. This mode is mainly used to reduce the impact of bots sniping at the opening and bundled trading.
Most Prominent Feature: Fees are Only One-Quarter of Pons and Flap
Pools.trade does not charge an additional launchpad fee; each transaction incurs a 0.25% Uniswap v4 pool fee. If the creator enables revenue sharing, 0.05% goes to the creator, and 0.20% is automatically reinvested into the permanently locked liquidity pool. Uniswap Labs does not participate in the revenue sharing.
Pons and Flap both charge a 1% transaction fee. Based on a $10 million trading volume, Pools.trade generates $25,000 in fees, of which the token creator can receive $5,000; Pons generates $100,000 in fees, and with a 70% creator share, the token creator can receive $70,000.
Pools.trade reduces trading costs and keeps most of the fees in liquidity; Pons and Flap leave higher income for token creators. The former is more beneficial for trading, while the latter provides more direct incentives for token creators.
For a detailed introduction, we recommend reading: "Uniswap Launches Token Issuance Platform Pools.trade, Reshuffling the Robinhood Launchpad Ecosystem?"
Only Two Tokens Exceed $1 Million Market Cap, Early Minting Raises Fairness Concerns
Compared to the impressive number of token issuances and platform trading volume, Pools.trade has not seen high-market-cap Meme coins. As of now, only two tokens on Pools.trade have market caps above $1 million: FRONG and POOLS. Additionally, tokens with market caps above $400,000 include HOOKR, UNIPEG, CHWDR, and PosM.
FRONG, Market Cap Once Reached $18 Million
FRONG is currently the highest-market-cap Meme on Pools.trade. At 0:00 on August 5, Uniswap's official Twitter started a 24-hour countdown for the Pools.trade launch and posted a video of a frog "splashing" by a pond.
After the tweet was posted, the community quickly noticed the frog Meme coin FRONG issued through Pools.trade's early contracts and regarded it as the platform's mascot concept coin. Driven by this FOMO sentiment, FRONG's market cap briefly touched $18 million.
However, before Uniswap started the countdown for the Pools.trade launch, FRONG had already been minted through a contract. On-chain records show that FRONG was minted and its trading pool was created as early as July 30, five days before Uniswap's countdown announcement; the relevant contract was even deployed about three weeks in advance, and at that time there was no indication of its relationship with Uniswap or Pools.trade.
As this time gap was discovered, questions arose about the fairness of FRONG's issuance, and its market cap quickly fell from the high. Even though Pools.trade officially launched at 0:00 yesterday, FRONG did not receive community support, and its market cap has remained below $10 million, currently reported at $7 million.
POOLS, Market Cap Once Exceeded $4 Million
POOLS, currently the second-highest market cap on Pools.trade, is similar to FRONG in that it was also minted before the platform's official launch.
Compared to FRONG's "frog mascot" narrative, POOLS' narrative logic is more direct—the name is the same as the platform, so the community treats it as a Pools.trade concept coin. Its market cap once exceeded $4 million, then fell back to about $1.8 million.
FRONG relies on the "frog mascot" narrative, POOLS relies on the platform's same name. Both should have had higher market cap expectations, but both suffered from the "rat trading" controversy caused by early minting, leading to a sharp decline in community FOMO sentiment, with market caps both below $10 million.
The most fundamental logic of Meme coins is that everyone is willing to believe they are standing on the same starting line. Once fairness is questioned, no matter how good the token narrative is, it is difficult for the community to continue spontaneous dissemination. This may be why Pools.trade, despite its impressive data, has not yet produced a high-market-cap Meme.
However, behind Pools.trade stands Uniswap, and Robinhood Chain is also one of the most discussed public chains for Meme coins at the moment. Currently, the platform does not lack traffic; what it lacks is a new narrative that is interesting enough and free from the "rat trading" controversy. It may not be long before Pools.trade sees its first "speedrun" token.
