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Pump.fun Launches GO Bounty Platform, Immediately Draws Backlash Over Extreme Listings

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Pump.fun Launches GO Bounty Platform, Immediately Draws Backlash Over Extreme Listings

Pump.fun launched GO, an escrow-based bounty marketplace letting anyone post and complete tasks for SOL rewards, within hours a user posted a 690000 dollar suicide-linked listing the platform has yet to address.

Pump.fun, the dominant meme-coin launchpad on Solana, launched GO on Wednesday, a bounty marketplace that lets users post paid tasks and pay anyone worldwide to complete them, with rewards held in escrow until the platform approves a submission.

The platform generated its first controversy within hours. A user posted a bounty worth 10,000 SOL, or roughly $690,000 at current prices, tied to a suicide-related act. An X post sharing a screenshot of the listing attracted more than 1,800 likes. Pump.fun had not issued a public statement on the listing or outlined GO moderation policies as of Friday.

The launch continues Pump.fun’s expansion from a pure meme-coin launchpad into a broader on-chain coordination layer, following the March 2025 rollout of PumpSwap, its native DEX, and the subsequent launch of Mayhem Mode, an AI-agent trading product for early-stage tokens.

GO: How the Bounty Mechanism Works

GO is live at go.pump.fun. Creators connect an X account and a wallet, post a bounty with a description, timeframe, and deliverables, and lock the reward into escrow at creation. The minimum payout is $5. Once published, the creator cannot withdraw the funds. The funds stay locked until Pump.fun approves a submission and signs the payout, or until the bounty expires, at which point the creator reclaims funds after a dispute window.

Submitters connect the same way, complete the task, and upload proof. Pump.fun has sole authority to accept, reject, modify, or cancel any bounty or submission. Its decisions are final and not appealable, according to the platform’s terms of service. The fee structure specific to GO was not listed on the platform’s published fee schedule as of Friday.

GO differs structurally from crypto engagement platforms such as Layer3, Galxe, and Zealy, which are designed around protocol-defined quest templates targeting on-chain onboarding and loyalty. GO imposes no task category restrictions in the launch announcement, leaving scope to the market and to Pump.fun’s moderation team.

Prior Controversies Set the Context

The controversy around GO’s first listings follows a pattern the platform established with its livestreaming feature. Pump.fun launched livestreaming in late 2024 as a way for token creators to attract attention. Within weeks, users were broadcasting threats of violence, animal abuse, and self-harm to drive meme-coin purchases. Pump.fun shut the feature down in November 2024. It relaunched roughly five months later and faced similar incidents by September 2025, including staged stunts and hate speech.

GO adds a direct financial incentive to the same dynamic. The bounty model pays participants to complete tasks rather than relying on organic engagement, raising the stakes for users who may feel pressure to accept increasingly extreme requests.

Pump.fun’s pseudonymous founder Alon said after the first livestream shutdown that content moderation “hasn’t been great” and that the company had doubled its moderation team and invested in automated detection. The platform has not repeated that characterization publicly in connection with GO.

Platform Economics Remain Strong

Pump.fun’s core business continues to generate significant fee revenue. The platform’s bonding-curve launchpad product has collected $1.11 billion in cumulative fees since launch, per DefiLlama. Its 30-day fees run at $29.3 million, equivalent to a roughly $318 million annualized rate.

PumpSwap, the companion DEX that replaced Raydium as the graduation destination for bonding-curve tokens, added another $622 million in all-time swap fees, with $42.7 million in the past 30 days.

The PUMP governance token trades at $0.001465, giving the protocol a market cap of $514 million and a fully diluted valuation of $1.26 billion, per CoinGecko. The token is down roughly 83% from its all-time high of $0.008819, reached on Sept. 14, 2025.

Bitcoin maximalists say the brutal price crash is just a temporary liquidity crunch caused by the AI boom

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Bitcoin maximalists say the brutal price crash is just a temporary liquidity crunch caused by the AI boom

Hardcore bitcoin purists haven’t lost faith in the world’s largest digital currency, despite it losing nearly 17% of its value, marking the worst weekly performance since July 2024 and wiping out about $200 billion in market cap in the last seven days.

The prominent bitcoin advocates or maximalists (short for maxis) — a group that believes bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency likely to achieve lasting global adoption and monetary relevance — argue that capital is being sucked out of crypto and into artificial intelligence, creating what they see as a temporary liquidity crunch rather than a fundamental bitcoin problem.

This narrative comes as the world’s largest cryptocurrency is currently hovering below $60,000, down about 27% over the past month and down by more than 50% from its Oct. 6 all-time high, according to CoinDesk data.

The capital flight coincided with a record-breaking streak for U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, which suffered $3.45 billion in outflows across 11 consecutive sessions. While crypto bleeds, Wall Street’s tech appetite remains aggressive. Even after the recent pullback, AI-related equities remain among the market’s strongest performers. The Nasdaq rose 34%, and the S&P 500 climbed nearly 24% in the last year, raising anxiety among crypto investors seeking answers about bitcoin’s underperformance.

While some market observers view the drop as a loss of structural confidence, bitcoin maxis argue the slump is merely a reflection of speculative capital rotating heavily into AI.

According to Mati Greenspan, a market analyst, bitcoin maximalist and founder of Quantum Economics, the price of bitcoin is in a downward trend, not because investors have lost faith in it, but because AI has become the dominant destination for speculative capital.

“Bitcoin is not facing a bitcoin problem. It’s facing a liquidity problem,” Greenspan told CoinDesk in an interview Friday. “AI has become the market’s new obsession, but obsessions fade.”

Another prominent bitcoin maxi and subject of recent debate if his bitcoin selling has caused the recent crash, Strategy (MSTR) Chairman Michael Saylor echoed Greenspan’s sentiment on X.

“Capital markets are funding the AI buildout at historic scale: ~$400B over six months,” Saylor said. Bitcoin ETFs have seen ~$4B of outflows since May 14, pressuring BTC. This is a capital rotation, not a bitcoin impairment. Volatility creates opportunity.”

‘The root cause’

Greenspan pointed to the Anthropic $50 billion IPO, targeting a nearly $1 trillion valuation, as the clearest indication of where market liquidity might have gone.

While bitcoin advocates point to the asset’s historical long-term returns, traditional liquidity pools are currently chasing AI infrastructure, data centers, and multi-billion-dollar private capital rounds, Greenspan added.

In fact, the anticipated IPOs of OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX, which together could raise more than $200 billion, may be drawing investor attention and capital toward AI and technology opportunities at the expense of other speculative assets, including crypto.

Bitcoin core developer and maximalist Jameson Lopp argued that investor frustration during market downturns often fuels the search for simple explanations. “I suspect the root cause is the bear market, combined with TradFi markets experiencing an AI boom,” Lopp said on X.

However, not everyone is blaming AI as the primary driver behind bitcoin’s weakness.

Market data suggests the pressure on crypto is multifaceted, and critics argue that blaming AI entirely oversimplifies a fragile macroeconomic environment. Jason Fernandes, a bitcoin maxi, market analyst and AdLunam co-founder, told CoinDesk that the asset is facing pressure from multiple fronts.

“BTC is under siege from every angle right now,” Fernandes said. “ETF outflows, high interest rates, creeping inflation, money rotating back into hot tech stocks, macro uncertainty, and now the psychological shock of Michael Saylor’s Strategy selling BTC after years of preaching ‘never sell.’”

Strategy, the largest publicly traded corporate holder of bitcoin, drew heavy criticism on social media after selling 32 bitcoin for $2.5 million in late May—its first sale in four years—to fund dividend payments on STRC, its perpetual preferred stock known as Stretch.

Though critics claimed the move “damaged confidence,” Greenspan, like many other analysts, dismissed the panic. “Selling 32 BTC against a balance sheet of more than 843,000 BTC is not even a rounding error,” Greenspan said.

Time to buy?

Despite the outflows, some of the maxis argue it might be time to dip into the underperforming asset as bitcoin’s longer-term fundamentals remain intact.

Greenspan argued that the recent record-breaking outflows from bitcoin funds are likely part of a rotation back toward monetary assets. He added that bitcoin’s current consolidation phase could serve as an accumulation zone if underlying network fundamentals hold. Despite the price dip, institutional adoption, regulatory frameworks, and discussions around bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset have continued to mature over the last few years.

Meanwhile, other bitcoin advocates, such as Strike CEO Jack Mallers, are bypassing broader market debates and encouraging investors to buy the dip on social media.

However, a rotation back into crypto is not guaranteed to be smooth. Even if bitcoin’s weakness stems partly from capital flowing into AI, Greenspan argues that a reversal may not immediately benefit crypto and might act as a double whammy.

“If AI sentiment cracks, bitcoin could get hit twice: first from liquidity leaving crypto, and then again from a broader risk-off move across markets,” Greenspan said.

“As for what comes next, I would be careful assuming the bottom is already in,” Greenspan noted.

Read more: Bitcoin isn’t crashing because of Saylor, it’s losing the momentum trade

Crypto Tax in Illinois FY2027 Budget is One Step Away from Becoming Law

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Crypto Tax in Illinois FY2027 Budget is One Step Away from Becoming Law

Some digital asset industry advocates are pushing back against a provision in a $56 billion state budget passed by the Illinois General Assembly on Monday, due to its impact on crypto users. 

In a Senate bill included as part of the Illinois state budget for the fiscal year 2027, lawmakers proposed a 0.2% tax on crypto transactions, to be imposed by the “digital asset broker making or effectuating the sale of the digital asset business activity.” The 1624-page bill, part of the revenue and tax package to fund the state’s 2027 budget, passed along party lines early on Monday.

Senate Bill 3019. Source: Illinois General Assembly

The measure, described as a “privilege tax” within the Digital Asset Privilege Tax Act amendment to the bill, included registration requirements for any entity operating as a digital asset broker in Illinois. Brokers who failed to follow the guidelines from Jan. 1 could be found guilty of a Class 3 felony in the state and subject to a prison sentence of two to five years and fines up to $25,000.

Passed by the state general assembly on Monday, the budget bill still needs Governor JB Pritzker’s signature before becoming law. Pritzker made several public statements signaling that he plans to sign the bill soon, but had not done so as of Friday morning. Lawmakers expect the crypto tax to generate $60 million for the state.

Related: Crypto industry ties were a liability in Illinois primary

This crypto tax measure has prompted accusations from industry advocates of “burying” the rule within a massive budget proposal. The Digital Chamber and Illinois Blockchain Association penned a letter on Wednesday urging the state to reject the Digital Asset Privilege Tax Act, claiming that it would be “economically destructive” and gave the industry no notice of its intentions.

“No other state has imposed a similar tax, and the lack of stakeholder engagement surrounding this proposal raises significant concerns,” said The Digital Chamber in a Thursday X post.

Source: The Digital Chamber

Illinois governor goes after insider trading on prediction markets

The crypto tax proposal in Illinois’ budget followed Pritzker’s signing of an executive order banning state employees from betting on prediction market event contracts with companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket. The EO, signed on April 21, came in response to concerns elected officials could use the platforms “for personal enrichment and advantage based on access to nonpublic information.”

Magazine: Bitcoin miners are pivoting to AI, so why is the hashrate near ATHs?

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Dragonfly GP Tom Schmidt Calls Nova Markets Startup ‘Huge Scammers,’ Slams VCs

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Dragonfly GP Tom Schmidt Calls Nova Markets Startup ‘Huge Scammers,’ Slams VCs

A Dragonfly Capital general partner partially walked back the attack on named investors. The founder responded by calling Schmidt a former backer turned hostile critic.

Tom Schmidt, a general partner at Dragonfly Capital, called Nova Markets “huge scammers” on Thursday, targeting the startup’s entire investor cohort in the same post.

The accusation came as a quote-tweet of Nova Markets’ June 4 fundraise announcement. Dragonfly, which closed a $650 million fourth fund in February, is one of the blockchain industry’s most prominent VC funds.

“Huge scammers btw,” Schmidt wrote. “Shame on everyone who did this round for not even doing a bare minimum of dd,” referring to due diligence.

Schmidt’s Partial Retreat

52 minutes later, Schmidt had walked part of his accusation back.

In a follow-up post, Schmidt said he had since learned that most of the investor names in the announcement were legacy relationships being rolled forward rather than representing new capital.

“I’m learning that most of the investor names here are old companies that are being rolled into this / not putting new capital in (which is also a classic bad faith maneuver by the team lol),” he wrote, “so apologies to VCs in this camp (@robotventures @wintermute_t others).”

Schmidt did not apologize to the full named cohort — which includes Cumberland, GSR, Greenfield Capital, hash3xyz, Bodhi Ventures, BigBrainVC, and Kairos Research — and did not retract or soften his characterization of the team.

Founder Responds

Minutes after Schmidt’s partial walk-back, Nova Markets founder Tiago Barbosa — posting as @tiagobnova — quote-tweeted Schmidt saying: “> invests in founder > disagrees with founder > talks shit about him instead > shits on all his cap table — hyperliquid.”

Schmidt said Dragonfly is not an investor in Valhalla and declined to comment further.

Neither Nova Markets nor Barbosa responded to a request for comment from The Defiant, sent over X messages.

Perps Exchange on Hyperliquid

Nova Markets is a perpetuals exchange deployed on Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 framework. HIP-3, activated on mainnet in October 2025, lets any team that stakes 500,000 HYPE deploy its own perpetuals exchange on Hyperliquid’s order-matching layer. Nova positions itself as a faster listing engine for novel markets: assets that centralized exchanges cannot easily list, including pre-IPO company perps, commodities, and foreign equity indices.

HYPE, Hyperliquid’s governance and staking token, traded about 20% below its all-time high of $75.51, with a market cap of roughly $17 billion. The Defiant reported on June 3 that HIP-3 builder-deployed markets cleared $62 billion in May volume.

Third-Party Allegations and Tiago’s Denial

An account posting as @0xNeptun alleged that Tiago had previously launched a project called @valhalla_defi on MegaETH, raised $1.5 million from investors, abandoned the project, and was now using capital from that prior raise to fund Nova Markets. To be sure, the pseudonymous account has 591 followers, a low-credibility source by the standards this publication applies to unverified claims.

Tiago responded: “i founded valhalla, the rest is not true.” He confirmed founding Valhalla but denied the abandonment claim and the allegation that Nova Markets is funded by redeployed Valhalla capital.

Bitcoin Bottom ‘Almost In’ As Sell-Off Cuts 14% In 7 Days

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Bitcoin Bottom ‘Almost In’ As Sell-Off Cuts 14% In 7 Days

Bitcoin shed 14% in seven days, sliding to levels not seen since February, as a convergence of institutional outflows, leverage liquidations, geopolitical pressure, and a shock sale from Strategy rattled digital asset markets. 

Yet Standard Chartered’s global head of digital assets research, Geoff Kendrick, told clients the bear market may be in its final stages — and that the low is “almost in.”

“I think when we look back at the end of 2026 with BTC at $100k… we will say this was the buying zone we all wanted,” he wrote. 

Bitcoin traded around $63,739 on Wednesday, down from a 24-hour high of $67,416.50, after touching a session low near $61,463 — the first time it breached that threshold since the February crash. The decline placed BTC roughly 51% below its all-time high of $126,277, set in October 2025.