A bonding curve prices a token by formula rather than by an order book. Each buy issues tokens at a slightly higher price and each sell redeems them at a slightly lower one, so the contract itself is the counterparty. Price moves with supply issued, not with matched bids.
The arithmetic is the whole mechanism. Say a curve starts cheap and steepens as supply is issued: whoever buys the first slice pays less per token than whoever buys the next identical slice, because the formula has already moved. Nobody quotes that price, and nobody can trade around it — until the curve fills, it is the only market the token has.
Proceeds sit with the curve contract while it runs. That is why curve launches behave differently from a pool launch: there is no separate liquidity pool to read, no depth to measure, and no pool position to lock or burn until the curve completes and the launchpad moves the funds.
Curve-launched tokens carry their progress toward graduation on their token page, and Locksley tracks —pending launchpads on Robinhood Chain across Launchpads, each with its own curve shape and fee.
Every Robinhood Chain launchpad, compared lays the mechanics side by side, and MintPlus vs the pump.fun model contrasts curve-first launches with locked-at-creation ones.
Frequently asked questions
Is a bonding curve the same as a liquidity pool?
No. A pool holds two assets and prices trades from their ratio, so anyone can add or remove liquidity and depth is readable at any moment. A curve holds one formula and issues supply against payments, with no second-side liquidity to withdraw. Most curve launches end by converting proceeds into an ordinary pool.
MintPlus vs the pump.fun model
Locked-at-birth versus graduation-first: when the pool exists, who funds it, and what a buyer can verify on day one under each token launch model.
See it liveRobinhood Chain launchpads
The Robinhood Chain launchpad index: every pad Locksley tracks, listed alphabetically with live launches, fee schedules and graduation rules per page.
