Animal Cruelty, Self-Injury Live Allegations: The Dark Side of Pump.fun

Content Warning: This article discusses the topics of self-harm and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Decentralized token creation platform Pump.fun is under scrutiny after reports surfaced late Sunday of a user self-destructing on a live stream if their token failed to reach certain price targets.

Pamp.fun users threatened to “hang themselves” if the coin didn't reach the market cap, according to a statement posted by Pudgy Penguin's security product manager at Beauty's Beginning.

Bowe later said the user's Twitter account sent them a live screenshot of the man uploading himself.

“I hope it's a troll, but whether it's fake or real, it has the potential to incite people to further harm themselves or harm others. The main danger is that it can spiral further,” Bowe told Decrypt.

Another Twitter user, responding to Beau's thread, pointed to a separate incident where the creator of the Pamp.fun token threatened to shoot their pet if the meme coin didn't reach $11 million in market cap.

Beau's original post has received over 500,000 views at the time of writing.

Other reports of self-harm have surfaced on Pump.fun, where they responded to a question from Jordan Fish (better known as Coby), the creator of echo.xyz.

Decrypt was informed of the user's coin address and identity by Twitter, but redacted any personal information to protect the user.

Upon investigation, Decrypt found that the terms of service for Pamp.fun were not on the website. Pump.fun did not immediately return a request for comment.

In the year “We actively moderate illegal content” on the site, Pamp.fun founder Alon said in a Nov. 22 tweet, adding that “our moderation is not perfect.”

In October, Alon told Decrypt that after Pump.fun took steps to eliminate child sexual abuse, “we have built systems and have a team that oversees the control of coins and messages in the comment sections of coins,” the site's video feature.

What is Pump.fun?

Pump.fun, launched earlier in January by its anonymous creator, Alon, has gained a lot of attention as a decentralized launchpad for meme coins. Solana blockchain. It allows users to generate tokens with “fair start” mechanics and without group allocation.

The platform needs coins to reach a market cap of $100,000 before it can liquidate $17,000 into Radium. But critics have highlighted the lack of comprehensive security protocols for its distribution features, with some developers taking risky actions to increase the value of their tokens.

The concern for self-harm was raised in a post by Candice Teo, a lead contributor to the Crypto Communications Collective, on the Association of Cryptography Journalists and Researchers (ACJR) public Telegram channel.

“Projects like Pump.fun include everyone's “own” part of Web3, and when issues like this arise, it's tempting to put the blame on crypto,” Teo told Decrypt.

The concerns center on the potential psychological impact of volatile crypto markets, particularly meme coins and tokens that experience high price volatility. In August, Decrypt reported similar offensive behavior on the Pamp.fun forum, including one where a coin creator faked their death on a live stream.

Mental health concerns among crypto traders

Mental health experts have previously warned of addictive trading behaviors and emotional distress linked to cryptocurrency market participation.

A study published in September in the Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics found that crypto trading resulted in lower quality of life, worse sleep, and higher stress levels than engaging in any other business. In particular, the study was limited to the demographics of a public university in Turkey.

“Cryptocurrency trading is a serious public health problem,” the researchers concluded, raising societal awareness of the negative impact of irresponsible trading practices. They also advocated for the development of specific mental health policies for crypto traders.