Pump.fun has introduced Custom Pairs on Solana, allowing users to create tokens paired directly with tokenized stocks, crypto majors, metals, and other assets. The initial rollout supports 93 asset pairs through xStocks and Sunrise.
Twenty new stock tokens have launched through Sunrise, issued by Backpack Securities. These include Boeing, Alibaba, Costco, Dell, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Reddit, Rivian, Shopify, and UPS. Backpack states the tokens are redeemable 1:1 for underlying shares and can be transferred to traditional brokerages.
How Custom Pairs Work
Under the new model, creators can launch tokens against assets such as NVDAx or TSLAx instead of using SOL or a stablecoin as the quote asset. Trading fees can be paid out in the paired token.
Custom Pairs carry the same Pump.fun bonding-curve and Pumpswap protocol fees as standard launches. Half of all revenue generated by Custom Pairs will flow into a programmatic PUMP buyback-and-burn contract. Creators can charge between 0.05% and 1% in fees, or opt for a cashback model that returns trading fees to users.
Volume-Dependent Economics
The model's sustainability depends on maintaining high trading volume. DeFi commentator Ignas warned that stock-and-memecoin models built around fees become fragile once speculation cools. He noted that if volume declines, payouts and buybacks will disappear, weakening incentives to hold such tokens. Ignas pointed to Coinbase's 2021 cycle, when quarterly trading volume fell roughly 74% within a year.
Pump.fun's PUMP buyback mechanism now depends partly on continued turnover in these new tokenized asset markets.
Regulatory Questions Linger
The launch comes days after a public dispute over tokenized equities on Robinhood Chain. AMC CEO Adam Aron demanded Robinhood stop offering an AMC-linked token, arguing the product was not authorized by the company and did not provide normal shareholder rights. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev responded by highlighting Robinhood's tokenized equities structure.
Robinhood documents described its Stock Tokens as debt securities offering economic exposure rather than direct ownership, while Backpack says its Solana stock tokens are backed and redeemable 1:1. The broader question remains: crypto platforms are moving equities into programmable, 24/7 markets faster than traditional market rules were designed to accommodate.
