Pump.fun bounty feature under fire for dangerous stunts

Pump.fun, the popular memecoin platform, is facing severe criticism over its new bounty feature. Users can post tasks via the feature and reward others with crypto for carrying them out. Since then, quite extreme and dangerous challenges have emerged, causing uproar worldwide.

Pump.fun is available at OKX and Bybit.

More than $370.000 paid out since launch

Since the feature launched on 4 June, the platform has already paid out more than $370.000 to participants, reports the New York Post. There are currently around 270 open bounties, with a total of more than $200.000 in outstanding rewards. Users upload videos of themselves performing the tasks, often in humiliating or downright dangerous situations.

One of the most notable cases comes from the Philippines, where a man earned $15.000 in crypto by having the text “bounty fun” tattooed on his forehead. Other tasks go even further: sticking one’s face in a toilet, quitting a job live on camera, or climbing Mount Everest. The feature thus attracts an audience willing to take significant risks for a crypto payout.

Criticism from politics and tech

The controversy is not limited to social media. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has spoken out publicly against the feature, as has Nikita Bier, head of product at X. Both express concerns about the potentially harmful consequences of such challenges, where people put themselves in danger for a sum of money in crypto.

The discussion fits into a broader trend regarding the regulation of crypto platforms. For instance, from 2027 the EU will require stricter KYC rules and ban anonymous accounts. Pump.fun itself has not yet commented extensively on the criticism, but the feature remains active for now and continues to attract new participants. Reports the New York Post.