Uniswap Labs acquired PONS, the native token of a memecoin launchpad platform on Robinhood Chain. The deal was announced on September 4, 2024, and described as a deepening of long-term collaboration between the projects. Neither Uniswap Labs nor Pons disclosed the size of the purchase, the price paid, or the date it was made. Immediately following the announcement, the token gained significant momentum: according to CryptoPotato, PONS reached an all-time high of $0.75, up 40.2% in 24 hours. Other sources, including The Defiant and Crypto.News, cite a high of $0.5242 and a 17.5% gain over the same period. The discrepancy in figures is attributed to differences in the time data was recorded and the price sources used.
Pons operates actively on Robinhood Chain – a platform for trading tokenized stocks and memecoins. In the 24 hours preceding the deal announcement, the protocol processed more than 63% of all launchpad volume on the network, generating $5.95M in fees. Over the past week and month, Pons earned $28.83M and $40.84M respectively, consistently outpacing competitors including Solana-based pump.fun. Robinhood Chain as a whole handles the majority of Uniswap V4 trading activity: of the protocol's $1.6B in 24-hour volume, $901.5M (56.3%) came from this network. Pons directs approximately 80% of protocol fees toward buying back and burning its own tokens. At the time of the announcement, 29.34% of the total PONS supply had already been burned. The platform recently added new tokenized stock pairs – UPS, Snap, Lululemon, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson – giving the token an additional growth catalyst.
The acquisition of PONS signals Uniswap Labs' strategic interest in the Robinhood Chain ecosystem, where its V4 protocol has become the primary liquidity venue. The move coincides with a broader rally in the Uniswap token: UNI has risen more than 60% over the past 30 days to $6.40. At the same time, Uniswap Labs competes directly with Pons through its own launchpad, Pools.trade, on the same network – the platform managed to surpass Pons in number of launches on its first day (August 5), but Pons remains far ahead in fee revenue. The decision to invest in a direct competitor may indicate that Uniswap Labs recognizes the growing significance of Pons within the Robinhood Chain ecosystem. As reported by Crypto.News and The Defiant, the deal attracted widespread attention: Pons' announcement garnered more than 200,000 views within two hours. However, neither party has yet published additional details regarding the size of the investment or the terms of the deal.