Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

AI-themed tokens have recently seen renewed capital rotation. Bittensor [TAO] is in the middle of fresh market demand. In fact, the market cap of AI coins jumped by 5% to $19 billion while trading volume skyrocketed by 18% to $3.97 billion.

Amid this sector-wide capital flow, TAO has shown strong upside pressure, extending its upsurge after previously flipping $250 to reach a high of $277. The coin has not reached these levels since June.

As of this writing, Bittensor was trading around $272, up 13.4% on the daily charts. At the same time, market cap crossed $3 billion while the trading volume rose 164% to $558 million. 

TAO pumped strongly as it went live on Raydium. The integration connected decentralized AI infrastructure with Solana’s DeFi capital. Since Raydium leverages Solana’s user base, with the integration, TAO now has a wider user base. 

One area that TAO benefits the most is integration with memecoin  launchpads, especially StonkFun. In fact, after it went live, a Bittensor memecoin was launched on Solana called BUTT. 

BUTT’s market cap rose to over $6 million. However, BUTT’s holders had to swap to TAO first, which in turn drove the price for TAO. 

Demand for Bittensor on the rise again Incentivized by the expanded reach, investors have increased capital deployment significantly. On the Spot side, for example, the market has recorded a positive delta for five consecutive days. 

Source: Coinalyze Coinalyze data showed that Bittensor recorded 265k in buy volume with the buy/sell delta rising to 24k. This indicated buyer dominance on the Spot market.

On the derivatives side, traders have also increased participation. In fact, the altcoin’s Open Interest surged $428 million, marking a four-month high.

Source: CoinGlass With OI rising to May levels, it suggests traders have opened new positions, both shorts and longs, a clear sign of increased speculation.

Historically, strong speculative demand and Spot accumulation have strengthened momentum, leading to more gains on the price charts.

Is the uptrend sustainable? Bittensor is under strong bullish pressure amid renewed market interest and capital rotation. The expanded user base with the memecoin launch on Raydium has strengthened the uptrend.

A look at the MACD showed that the momentum indicator formed a bullish crossover and climbed to 10. At the same time, the Awesome Oscillator rose to 22, holding green for two consecutive days.

Source: Tradingview Rising MACD and AO reflect buyer dominance in the market. Often, such a setup has resulted in some more gains.

Therefore, if the market conditions hold, Bittensor will close above $280 and eye the $300 resistance level. However, if the speculation around Raydium integration fades, TAO will retrace to $234.

Final Summary TAO surged 13%, to reach a three-month high of $277, then retraced to $267 at press time. The main catalysts were Raydium’s integration and the launch of BUTT memecoin, which brought in more demand. 

Raydium has expanded LaunchLab to support trading between any token pair, with LaunchOnSF’s StonkFun becoming the first integration to use the new system on Solana.

Summary

Raydium LaunchLab now allows newly launched tokens to be paired with any supported quote token on the platform. StonkFun has become the first integration to use the new model after changes to Raydium programs, aggregators and trading terminals. StonkFun said deployment costs have fallen to 0.03 SOL from 0.29 SOL, while liquidity fees can be directed back into liquidity. The upgrade expands LaunchLab more than a year after Raydium introduced the platform following Pump.fun’s move to its own PumpSwap exchange. According to Raydium’s Sept. 7 announcement on X, LaunchLab can now pair a newly launched token with any quote token supported through Raydium, removing the fixed pairing structure used by many token launch platforms. Raydium said the upgrade brings more flexible token pairing, deeper liquidity and lower fees for memecoin trading.

LaunchLab now supports any token pair on Raydium.

The upgrade brings flexible pairing directly to Solana, with deeper liquidity, lower fees, and stronger meme-native trading.@LaunchOnSF is the first integration partner to bring the model live on LaunchLab. pic.twitter.com/c3NFuYCRWI

— Raydium (@Raydium) September 6, 2026 LaunchOnSF confirmed that its StonkFun platform is the first integration partner to bring the feature live. Its team spent the previous week preparing the integration, which required changes across Raydium’s programs, trading terminals and aggregators before custom quote tokens could be supported.

Raydium LaunchLab now supports custom token pairs Under the new system, creators can select the quote token used for a LaunchLab deployment, allowing communities to build markets around assets other than the standard quote tokens commonly used for new Solana launches.

Raydium described the feature as the ability to launch “any token, paired with any quote token.” LaunchOnSF said Raydium updated its programs to accommodate custom quote and reward tokens, while aggregators and trading terminals needed to support routing for the resulting pairs.

The integration covers permissionless deployments, bonding curves and constant product market maker pools. LaunchOnSF said deployment costs through StonkFun have been reduced to 0.03 SOL from 0.29 SOL, while liquidity provider fees can be directed back into liquidity.

Developers do not have to use the StonkFun API to deploy tokens and can construct transactions themselves. LaunchOnSF said the system was built to reduce problems it had encountered with snipers and launches concentrated in a single wallet.

Ahead of the integration, StonkFun reported more than $392 million in total trading volume, including roughly $219 million routed through Raydium. The platform had generated $1.21 million in revenue and distributed more than $5.35 million in rewards to ecosystem holders.

More than $705,000 had been spent on buybacks and burns of its ecosystem token, while another $68,000 went toward buying and burning tokens from its 10 largest ecosystem projects, according to figures published by LaunchOnSF.

LaunchLab followed Pump.fun’s move away from Raydium Raydium first disclosed LaunchLab in March 2025 after Pump.fun began working on its own automated market maker. The platform offered creators different pricing curves and allowed third party interfaces to build on the underlying infrastructure and set their own transaction fees.

Crypto.news previously reported on Raydium’s LaunchLab plans in March 2025. An anonymous Raydium developer said at the time that the product had been under development for several months but had initially been kept on the sidelines while Pump.fun continued using Raydium for liquidity.

LaunchLab officially went live in April 2025, allowing users to create, customize and trade tokens through Raydium. Projects crossing the original 85 SOL threshold were automatically moved into Raydium’s automated market maker.

Raydium introduced customizable bonding curves, no migration cost and a 1% trading fee under the initial model. The protocol said 25% of trading fees collected through LaunchLab would be used to buy back RAY.

More than 10 projects had passed the 85 SOL threshold shortly after LaunchLab opened, while RAY rose roughly 13% following the launch before giving back part of the move.

LaunchLab arrived after Pump.fun changed a relationship that had directed a steady flow of newly created memecoins toward Raydium.

Tokens launched through Pump.fun had historically moved into Raydium liquidity pools after completing their bonding curves. Pump.fun began testing its own automated market maker in February 2025, opening a path for graduated tokens to remain inside its own trading infrastructure.

PumpSwap ended Pump.fun’s reliance on Raydium Pump.fun formally moved away from the previous setup when it launched the PumpSwap DEX in March 2025.

Built around a constant product automated market maker similar to Raydium v4 and Uniswap v2, PumpSwap allowed tokens completing Pump.fun bonding curves to migrate directly to its own liquidity pools. Users could create pools, provide liquidity and trade tokens without sending graduated launches to Raydium.

PumpSwap introduced instant migrations and removed the six SOL migration fee previously associated with the process. The platform initially charged 0.25% on trades, allocating 0.20% to liquidity providers and 0.05% to the protocol.

Trading activity climbed quickly. PumpSwap captured 21% of Solana DEX trading about a week after launch, with cumulative volume exceeding $1.2 billion. Raydium remained ahead with a 57.4% share at the time.

By March 30, PumpSwap had recorded $2.43 billion in volume, alongside $5.4 million in protocol fees, around 700,000 active wallets and 30.59 million swaps. Raydium accounted for 74% of Solana DEX volume on that date, compared with PumpSwap’s 8%.

Raydium had entered the contest from a strong position in memecoin trading. A CEX.io report showed its memecoin volume share rising from 77% to 83% during the first quarter of 2025.

Pump.fun was responsible for more than half of daily SPL token creation at the time, with tokens previously flowing into Raydium after meeting Pump.fun’s graduation requirements. That pipeline changed once PumpSwap began taking the migrations directly.

Raydium remains a major Solana trading venue Despite heavier competition among Solana exchanges and launchpads, Raydium has remained one of the network’s largest execution venues.

Across 2025, the protocol processed $352.8 billion in execution layer DEX volume. Meteora followed with $113.7 billion, while Orca and SolFi recorded $103.9 billion and $97.9 billion, respectively.

More recent activity has remained spread across several Solana venues. On Aug. 21, 2026, Solana generated approximately $2.8 billion in daily decentralized exchange spot volume. PumpSwap processed roughly $485 million, followed by BisonFi at $466 million, Orca at $307 million, Raydium at $260 million and Manifest at $218 million.

The five platforms together accounted for approximately $1.74 billion of the network’s daily total.

LaunchLab’s latest update changes the type of markets that can be created through Raydium’s launch infrastructure. Instead of requiring creators to launch against a predetermined quote asset, StonkFun deployments can select another supported token and carry that pairing through the bonding curve and subsequent liquidity setup.

Raydium ecosystem contributor Infra said the structure lets a community pair a meme token with another asset its users already follow and use the same asset for rewards. LaunchOnSF became the first partner to put that model into production through StonkFun following the Sept. 7 rollout.

Raydium, one of the top 10 most influential DeFi protocols according to Fortune, debuted Permissioned AMMs yesterday, July 23. Permissioned AMMs introduce a new framework that enables issuers of KYC-gated and regulated assets to launch directly on Raydium, accessing Solana’s deepest liquidity while maintaining compliant secondary markets. Superstate became the first partner to integrate the infrastructure, bringing tokenized equities into Raydium’s liquidity ecosystem.

The launch marks another step in the race to build infrastructure for regulated assets on public blockchains. As tokenized stocks, funds, and real-world assets gain attention, protocols are adapting traditional DeFi tools to meet compliance requirements.

Raydium Adds Compliance Controls to AMM Trading Traditional AMMs allow anyone with a wallet to provide liquidity or trade assets. That model works well for crypto-native tokens but creates challenges for regulated assets that require investor verification and transfer restrictions.

Raydium’s Permissioned AMMs add an access-control layer to its existing liquidity infrastructure. Instead of allowing any wallet to interact with a pool, the system verifies whether a wallet meets issuer-defined eligibility requirements before allowing trades.

The framework combines 3 core components:

Issuer-managed KYC, where asset issuers determine which participants qualify.

Programmatic enforcement, where smart contracts restrict pool interactions to approved wallets.

Immutable smart contracts, which provide transparent and verifiable execution.

Eligible investors can trade only with verified counterparties, while issuers maintain control over participant access.

Superstate Brings Tokenized Equities to Raydium Superstate became the first service partner to integrate Raydium’s Permissioned AMMs. The company operates Opening Bell, a platform designed to issue publicly registered tokenized equities directly on blockchains.

Unlike synthetic products that track stock prices without representing direct ownership, Superstate focuses on natively tokenized securities where the token represents the underlying security.

Superstate has developed infrastructure that tracks ownership changes across DeFi environments, including automated market makers and lending protocols. The company has also worked with protocols such as Uniswap, Orca, Aave, Morpho, and Kamino to support regulated asset activity onchain.

Through Raydium’s integration, approved investors can trade tokenized equities through Permissioned AMMs while Superstate manages ownership records and compliance requirements.

Raydium Joins a Broader Shift Toward Permissioned DeFi Raydium is not the only major DEX moving toward compliance-focused infrastructure.

On May 27, Orca launched permissioned pools on Solana in partnership with gold tokenization firm Streamex. Orca’s system uses Solana token extensions to enforce transfer restrictions and connect investor eligibility with onchain activity.

Uniswap Labs also announced Permissioned Pools yesterday, July 23. The feature introduces a hook standard for Uniswap v4 that allows pools to verify approved wallets directly through smart contracts rather than relying on frontend restrictions or offchain checks.

These launches highlight a broader industry trend: regulated assets require more than a place to trade. Issuers need infrastructure that combines blockchain transparency with controls required by securities markets.

Tokenized Assets Target a Trillion-Dollar Market The push toward compliant onchain markets comes as interest in tokenization continues to grow. In its Big Ideas 2026 report, Ark Invest estimated that the global market for tokenized assets could grow from $19 billion to $11 trillion by 2030, representing around 1.38% of all financial assets.

Solana has also seen rapid growth in its real-world asset ecosystem. The network recently became the blockchain with the highest number of RWA holders, reaching 311,000 holders, $3.5 billion in RWA value, and more than 2,500 types of tokenized assets.

Read More on SolanaFloor Mubadala Capital to Launch $75M Tokenized Fund on Solana via Kaio
Are the Trenches Back?: 62K Dormant Wallets Return as Memecoins Capture $2B in Volume

What's Next For Crypto If CLARITY Fails?