Pump.fun's newly launched bounty product, Pump.fun GO, has sparked controversy shortly after its launch due to a "forehead tattoo" task. Users who performed the task claimed that they followed the instructions to tattoo a misspelled token code onto their foreheads, and that the word was subsequently made into a Solana token and quickly entered the market.
Spelling errors become tradable tokens
According to CoinDesk, the task originally appeared to point to a token called $Bountywork, but the bounty description stated "$boutywork". User Arivu stated on X that he followed the task description exactly, so the tattoo content was not a personal mistake.
Subsequently, the Solana token named BOUTYWORK began trading on PumpSwap and was quickly hyped by the market. Reports indicate that the token's market capitalization once exceeded $600,000, with a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $3.5 million, approximately 2,630 holding addresses, and a liquidity of approximately $43,000.
Pump.fun's GO mechanism has been questioned.
Pump.fun GO, a new product launched by Pump.fun last week, allows users to set rewards for almost any task. The platform describes it as "paying anyone to do anything," but beyond the joke-style challenges, the mechanism has quickly drawn criticism for exploitative content.
The report mentioned that some users claimed to have contacted the tattoo shop and suspected that those who received tattoos might be being exploited by others who profited from the rising price of the token. CoinDesk stated that they called the tattoo shop twice but received no response.
More missions are pushing the boundaries of risk.
Other publicly available tasks reviewed by CoinDesk show that similar bounties are not uncommon. Some are still low-risk challenges, such as the challenge to eat a watermelon in 60 seconds, with a prize pool of approximately $93; however, some tasks are clearly more controversial.
For example, one task offers a reward of about $663, requiring participants to travel to Skid Row in Los Angeles to film and interview two homeless people about their voting choices; another task offers a reward of about $266, requiring participants to shave their heads while shouting "Jobcoin".
The meme coin model, which prioritizes traffic, is under renewed scrutiny.
The path for this type of game is straightforward: first, use a bounty to gain attention; then, turn the content into promotional material; and finally, issue tokens around the event and drive trading. Those who actually execute the challenge often receive only a small reward, while the initiators and traders may reap greater profits.
Pump.fun does not directly decide which tasks users initiate, and the platform also has a content moderation team. CoinDesk has sought a response from Pump.fun regarding this matter. The report suggests that this incident once again exposes the tension between meme coin traffic incentives and platform content governance.
