From decrypt by Logan Hitchcock

Tensor, the Solana-based NFT marketplace, teased more details about its latest venture: Vector.fun, a new platform that will blend social engagement with token trading in a mobile-first app across multiple blockchain networks.

The company’s founders shared details about the trading platform on social media on Tuesday, emphasizing that its development spun out of NFT fatigue and the market’s attention becoming “tokenized memetic.”

“We saw an explosive new market emerge out of nowhere and we realized it was going to be the horse of this cycle. We knew we had to go in and win,” said Tensor co-founder Ilja Moisejevs on Twitter (aka X). “Just like early NFTs—there was no shortage of trading products… and just like early NFTs—they all sucked. We thought we could do better. So we imagined a 10x experience,” he posted.

WTF IS VECTOR?

FOLLOW + NOTIS ON 🔔 pic.twitter.com/0EWY1TnjSV

— VECTOR (@VECTORDOTFUN) November 12, 2024

The platform, which has been in private beta for the last few months, aims to redefine trading by combining it with social interaction in a SocialFi experience. In other words, Tensor aims to put the meme coin banter, flexing, and community-building all in one spot.

“Trading crypto with your internet friends and bonding over the latest meme is SocialFi. Building a great social trading experience is SocialFi. Vector is SocialFi,” said co-founder Richard Wu.

A waitlist for early access was open for a brief period early this week, but intense demand forced the team to discontinue signups. Waitlisted parties are expected to get a chance to use Vector.fun in the next few weeks as the team gradually rolls out access. Holders of the company’s NFT collection, Tensorians, can skip the waitlist by confirming ownership via Discord.

  Tensor rose to prominence in the late stages of 2023, stealing Solana NFT trading volume from Magic Eden while achieving a market share as high as 85.2% in January 2024, according to data from Andrew Hong’s Solana NFT marketplace Dune dashboard.

Upon launch, Tensor’s Vector.fun will enter a highly competitive space and compete directly with notable meme coin trading terminals like Photon, BullX, and Jupiter’s ApePro, which have gained notoriety for their trading speed and meme coin discoverability.

Meme coin trading, particularly on Solana, has been on fire this year. That’s been led in large part by the Solana meme coin factory Pump.fun, which made it cheap and easy for just about anyone to launch a new token.

Since the start of the year, users on Pump.fun have created more than 3 million new meme coins, according to data on Dune. A few of those tokens—such as Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT) and Goatseus Maximum (GOAT)—have grown to sizable market caps and earned early entrants considerable gains.

Trading meme coins, though, comes with hefty risks, as most new tokens die quick deaths. The biggest winners of the meme coin craze are arguably the trading platforms that host them. Pump.fun, for instance, has so far earned more than $180 million in revenue from degens creating and flipping tokens.

Will Tensor be able to take on the incumbent and get a slice of that pie? It’s done it before.