Pump.fun Faces Criticism Over Controversial Livestreams

Pump.fun, Solana’s viral token creation application, is once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. 

In a desperate bid to attract attention and boost asset value, streamers’ are turning to increasingly inhumane acts.

The Solana community has condemned pump.fun streamers’ behavior, calling for stricter moderation on the platform. That hasn’t put a stop to the debauchery, with the pump.fun co- founder admitting “our moderation isn’t perfect”.

Streamers’ Abandon Humanity in Quest for Attention

Since launching in January 2024, pump.fun has been one of the crypto industry’s most polarizing applications. 

Simultaneously celebrated for its astronomical growth and criticized for its high frequency of scams and the anti-social activities performed on the platform, pump.fun has dominated crypto discussion all year.

However, in the last few days, things have taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Streamers’ have demonstrated a willingness to attract attention at any cost, carrying out horrific behavior in the name of going viral and pumping their coins.

Reported atrocities include multiple accounts of child abuse, death threats, racial abuse, violence, and self-degradation, all in the name of reaching certain price milestones.

While some Solana community members have declared “pump.fun needs to kill the livestreams”, others have argued that pump.fun isn’t the problem. Social media commentators contend that human greed is the underlying cause of these issues, highlighting that “people are willing to do anything for money”.

Others have come out to defend the platform, suggesting that true decentralization and censorship resistance represent the core fundamental ethos of blockchain technology and shouldn’t be compromised.

“This is Nothing New” - pump.fun Co-Founder Responds

In the wake of the controversy, pump.fun co-founder alon took to 𝕏 to acknowledge the community’s “very legitimate concerns”.

Alon asserted that, despite their advocacy for freedom of speech and expression, the pump.fun team actively moderates all content on the site and removes “clearly repulsive/dangerous content”.

Drawing parallels to popular social media sites like Reddit and 𝕏, alon reminded users that they can opt out of NSFW (Not Safe For Work) using the toggles provided.

While alon acknowledges that “our moderation isn’t perfect”, the co-founder reinforced “this is nothing new” and that these moderation standards have been enforced since the project’s inception.

Pump.fun Hits New ATH in Daily Revenue

Calls for pump.fun to be banned are mounting. In spite of this, the application enjoyed its biggest day ever in terms of revenue generation over the course of the weekend. On November 23, pump.fun generated 55,832 $SOL in revenue based on Dune Analytics data, currently valued at over $13.8M. 

For all its objective success, pump.fun has provided a platform by which humans have proven a willingness to commit deplorable acts in the name of making money and going viral. Some network participants are now boycotting the platform, lamenting that “this isn’t what crypto stands for”.

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