Poncho → Launching on Pons

What a Pons launch costs, and what you keep

Pons is the launchpad most Robinhood Chain tokens are created on. Its mechanics are not documented publicly, so this page is the arithmetic — measured on a real launch — plus the parts that are fixed forever the moment you press confirm.

Measured 6 September 2026 on Robinhood Chain mainnet, launching through Poncho. Figures are from one launch; gas moves, the fees do not.

The cost, itemised

Three parties charge you and one of them is optional. A launch is not one fee, and a page that quotes you a single number is quoting you its own cut.

The number that matters is the last one. The quote is a maximum, and the gas estimate is deliberately generous: the launch above was quoted 0.003647 ETH and cost 0.001824 ETH, because the network charged about a sixth of the estimate. You are shown the ceiling before you commit and charged the floor.

Poncho's 0.001 ETH is a separate transfer, taken only if the launch succeeds. A launch that reverts costs you the gas the network already burned and nothing else.

What the eight steps ask for

Launching is a conversation, not a form. Poncho asks eight questions, shows you the total, and sends nothing until you confirm. Four of the eight are skippable.

1. Name — up to 32 characters.
2. Ticker — letters and numbers, up to 10 characters.
3. Description — up to 500 characters, and skippable. It is stored permanently on the blockchain, so a longer description costs slightly more gas.
4. Image — a photo or a direct link. PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF, pinned to IPFS so the link cannot break later. Skippable, but pick the final image: it is pinned, not swapped.
5. Links — X, Telegram and a website, asked one at a time. All three skippable.
6. Wallet — which of your wallets creates the token, with each balance shown so you can see which one can afford it.
7. Developer buy — how much of your own token to buy at launch, up to 5 ETH. Skippable.
8. Creator settings — the fee rate, the payout wallet, and Buyback & Lock. The fee rate is the one that cannot be undone; see below.

Your first buy goes in the same transaction

Step seven is not a convenience. The developer buy is executed inside the launch transaction, not as a fast follow-up, which means there is no block between the token existing and you owning some of it. Nobody can buy ahead of you, because there is no gap to buy into.

The cap is 5 ETH. Sending 0 means no developer buy at all, which is what most launches do.

What is fixed at launch, and what is not

The rate and the wallet are two different things, and the difference matters more than it looks. The rate is a promise you make to the market once. The wallet is bookkeeping, and moving it does not move the fees already credited to the old one — claim what you are owed before you change it. How the fees themselves work is a page of its own.

The bonding curve, and what we do not know about graduation

A new Pons token starts on a bonding curve — its management panel reads Status: Bonding curve — and Pons counts a second category it calls graduated. As of early September 2026 its own front page showed roughly 167,000 tokens launched and 2,300 graduated, so graduation is rare: on the order of one in seventy.

What we cannot tell you is the threshold. Pons does not publish it, and we are not going to invent a number to fill the gap. When we have verified it against the contracts, it will be on this page with the date we checked it.

Where the token lives afterwards

Two links, both public, neither of them ours: the token's page on Pons at ponsfamily.com/launchpad/<contract>, and the contract itself on the Robinhood Chain explorer at robinhoodchain.blockscout.com/token/<contract>. Poncho puts both on the launch receipt, so you never have to take our word for what happened — the chain has it.