From Forehead Tattoos to Binge Drinking, Criticism Mounts Over Pump.fun Rewards Program

Pump.fun’s new rewards service is facing criticism as users take on increasingly extreme missions to promote their meme coins.

CoinDesk reported on June 9 that a Pump.fun user known as Arivu recently took part in the platform’s “Pump.fun GO” rewards program and posted a video showing a specific token name tattooed on his forehead. The phrase was later issued and traded as a Solana-based meme coin, drawing attention.

Pump.fun GO rewards users for completing specific tasks. The company describes it as a platform where anyone can request and perform jobs.

The controversy has grown as some users post provocative missions to attract attention. A list of assignments reviewed by CoinDesk included filming a video of someone drinking a bottle of liquor, shaving their head and interviewing a homeless person.

Critics say the structure, combined with the speculative nature of the meme-coin market, could encourage excessive behavior. That is because people who issue or trade the related tokens may earn more than the participants who actually carry out the missions.

Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, criticized the trend in a post on X, writing that the crypto industry had become “an industry that forces poor people to do humiliating things.”

Pump.fun has previously faced controversy over provocative content spreading through its live-streaming feature.