blockworks.co
This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.
Orca has released Wavebreak, a “human-first” Solana token launchpad.
The launchpad, which I first caught wind of earlier this month, integrates CAPTCHA with an onchain permission structure to keep bots and snipers from crowding out real humans, Orca CEO Nathan Davis told me. The move comes amid a raft of Solana DEXs releasing token launchpads — or vice versa — to compete in the memecoin-focused Solana DeFi market.
Outside of the onchain CAPTCHA, Wavebreak looks pretty similar to other launchpads on offer, with a few tweaks. One carrot Orca’s offering is daily rewards where users can earn rakebacks from a prize pool based on how much volume they trade.
Orca was launched on Solana by two Tokyo-based builders in 2021, according to the DEX’s docs. The DEX is also live on the SVM-based blockchain Eclipse.
During the doldrums of 2022 and 2023, Orca was Solana’s dominant DEX. Its market share would then come under siege by Raydium, which catapulted in usage in 2024 partly due to its popularity among memecoin traders and partnership with Pump.fun.
Today, Solana’s DEX sector is more competitive than ever — and most of the top players, which include PumpSwap, Raydium, SolFi and Meteora, alongside Orca, have some connection to a memecoin launchpad, if they haven’t already developed one in-house.
The issue with existing memecoin launchpads, says Orca, is the proliferation of bots which buy up tokens as quickly as possible in hopes of selling at a profit. Earlier this year, one research outlet found more than 50% of new Pump.fun tokens were being sniped, or purchased in the same block they were created. Such trades were profitable the vast majority of the time.
Whether this behavior is strictly bad is a matter of perspective (blockspace can be for bots, too), but it certainly does disadvantage human users.
“It’s not necessarily that other platforms themselves are intentionally malicious; many are also trying to combat this problem,” Davis explained.