How Token Launchpads Work
What a launchpad does beyond minting: pricing, initial liquidity, fee routing, graduation and where the risks sit for a creator.
Updated · 6 min read
Minting is the easy part
Any wallet can create a mint. The hard problems a launchpad solves are making the token immediately tradable, pricing it without a market maker, routing fees to the right parties, and moving the market into a permanent pool once it is large enough. That is the whole reason launchpads exist.
Curve-based launchpads
A bonding-curve launchpad makes a program the counterparty. Buyers trade against a formula rather than against other traders, so there is a price from the first block and no requirement for the creator to deposit both sides of a pool. RocketZA uses Meteora's Dynamic Bonding Curve for this, and graduates into a standard liquidity pool at a configured threshold.
Custody is the question to ask
Launchpads differ most in what they hold. A non-custodial launchpad never takes your keys, never holds your tokens and only receives disclosed fees; your wallet signs everything. Anything that pools contributors' funds, holds tokens on your behalf or promises distributions is a materially different arrangement and deserves much closer scrutiny.
- Who signs the transactions — you, or the platform?
- Where does the initial liquidity come from?
- How are trading fees split, and how are withdrawals charged?
- What exactly happens at graduation?