Key Takeaways
- Pump.fun has recorded $3.9 billion in trading volumes in the last 14 days.
- Almost 4 million tokens have launched on Pump.fun — just under 16,500 launched today.
- The Pump.fun memecoin ecosystem holds a market cap of $7.1 billion, representing 6% of Solana’s market cap.
- Pump.fun transactions represent over half of all monthly transactions on Solana.
The live stream feature of Solana-based memecoin creation website, Pump.fun, has taken a sad and dark turn as death, violence, porn, and dangerous content takes hold of the platform.
The controversy has reached a fever pitch, and as many are calling for the platform to be regulated as soon as possible, others defend its role in reshaping this era of crypto.
Anything but Fun
Reports of explicit content on Pump.fun livestreams — including pornography, drug use, animal abuse, sexual violence, self-harm, and even acts of terrorism — have raised significant concerns about the platform’s moderation capabilities.
Notably, some have threatened to hang themselves if their coin fails to reach a certain market cap. Others have reportedly seen the terrorist group ISIS decapitate a hostage for that very reason.
This outright abuse of its livestream feature has drawn fire from all corners of the Internet and crypto.
When thinking of Pump.fun, it often conjures images of memecoins, rug pulls, degeneracy, and Peanut the Squirrel.
But now, the platform’s inability to prevent inhumane, criminal, dangerous, and absurd content on its livestreams is driving calls for the platform to be shut down.
Dismissive and Optimistic
Last week, in response to the outpouring of criticism and concern, Pump.fun exec Alon explained that moderating content is challenging due to the platform’s rapid growth.
“[…]although we strongly stand for free speech and expression, it’s our responsibility to ensure that users don’t see clearly repulsive/dangerous content and that bad actors aren’t given a platform to act as they wish.“
He explains that there’s a huge team working “around the clock” to moderate this content. Understandably, it may be almost impossible to regulate content tied to the thousands of tokens created on the platform each day.
However, judging by the absurd amount of awful content dominating the site, it’s not exactly for the moderation team to spot and take decisive action against.
No one is expecting Pump.fun to have staffing levels like YouTube, which allows them to moderate content around the clock, but the rampant rise of dangerous content on Pump.fun shows a soft approach thus far.
Pump.fun, ICOs, and NFTs
Undeterred by the naysayers, Ryan Watkins, former senior research analyst for Messari and co-founder of Syncracy Capital, said he remains bullish on Solana as Pump.fun carries echoes of the 2018 initial coin offering (ICO) boom.
Although he admits that most Pump.fun tokens are absolute junk, Watkins believes the situation resembles the 2018 ICO boom or the 2021 NFT mania.
There is some truth to this, as these pivotal moments of crypto were formative, with billions of fresh dollars poured into projects of all shapes and sizes, reshaping the industry with each cycle.
Indeed, these infamous eras of “grassroots developer experimentation” were layered with tonnes of useless or outright fraudulent projects.
However, the platform(s) launching these ICOs and NFTs — for the vast majority — didn’t often feature porn, death, threats of violence, and other deplorable treats featured on Pump.fun livestreams from the outset.
Just as ICOs and NFTs came under heavy fire from regulators. If, for example, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to regulate memecoins created on Pump.fun as securities, then the platform and its users could face serious litigious actions in the future.
Pump.fun’s Uncertain Future
What is the government supposed to do, allow people to fire guns out into the street any time their token hits a certain market cap?
In the end, something will have to give. If regulators can train their sights on crypto exchanges, crypto tokens, Tornado Cash, and even Polymarket, then Pump.fun’s days could be numbered.
But troublingly, Solana’s team has been painfully quiet on the matter, and there’s probably a good reason why. As it stands, Pump.fun transactions account for more than half of all monthly transactions on the Solana network.
The loss of Pump.fun will bear heavy consequences on the SOL market, at least in the short term. However, if the platform fails to reign in its livestream content, Solana could experience significant downsides in the long term.
Eddie is a gaming and crypto writer at CCN. Covering the often weird and wonderful world of Web3 with an adoring, but skeptical eye.
Prior to CCN, Eddie has spent the past seven years working his way through the crypto, finance, and technology industry. He began with PR and journalism with Bitcoin PR Buzz and BitcoinNews.com, eventually working his way to become a copywriter with a dozen firms, including the likes of Polkadot before returning to journalism in 2023.
Having studied Radio production and journalism at University in the UK, Eddie spent a few years making podcasts and presenting on a local London radio station as he built up his writing chops.
A lifelong skateboarder, Eddie can often be found at the skatepark or touring the streets looking for something new to try. That, or kicking back playing JRPGs on his original PSP.
