Pump.fun, a new crypto platform launched in January 2024, has quickly become a magnet for people chasing easy money by completing bizarre, humiliating, and sometimes dangerous tasks in exchange for cryptocurrency. Since the craze began on June 4, the site says it has already paid out more than $370,000, with another $200,000 in crypto still available across about 270 open tasks.
The platform offers small sums for relatively benign actions, such as feeding stray cats for $71 or donating clothes to charity for $114. But many tasks are degrading or risky: one participant earned $72 for pouring a gallon of milk over his head while shouting a crypto name, another got $322 for appearing in public in a full gorilla costume with the site’s name on his chest, and a third made $71 after putting his face into a toilet and flushing it, with “$viral” written on his forehead.
Some of the highest payouts are tied to extreme stunts. A man in the Philippines received $15,000 in crypto for tattooing “bounty.fun” on his forehead. Other active offers include $57,200 for climbing Mount Everest to place a bet on Howl.com, about $26,000 for attending every match at the 2026 World Cup while carrying a crypto ad sign, and $3,100 for quitting a job on camera. A planned $50,000 stunt involving a parachute jump into a World Cup match was removed.
The site has drawn sharp criticism from U.S. officials and industry figures. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called it a “dystopian nightmare” and said she would work to ban it. X product chief Nikita Bier said it was “sad” that the crypto industry had become “entirely made up of teenagers in America forcing poor people to do humiliating things.” Pump.fun says participants act at their own risk, and it has not issued a formal response to the criticism.
