Pump.fun's new bounty product, Pump.fun GO, has already sparked its first controversy. A user posting as Arivu on X said he completed a GO bounty last week that required tattooing the ticker “$boutywork” on his forehead and providing video proof. The task appeared to reference a token called $Bountywork, but the bounty description itself used the misspelled version.
“Guys I have followed everything exactly what the name mentioned in the line,” Arivu wrote, adding it was not his mistake because he tattooed the exact name given. “Please i gave my life,” he wrote.
The typo became the market. A Solana token using the ticker BOUTYWORK began trading on PumpSwap, surging to a $600,000 market cap shortly after launch. It recorded over $3.5 million in volume in 24 hours, 2,630 holders and roughly $43,000 in liquidity. Arivu later posted that he had received $20,000 from the trading fee of a token someone had launched. He thanked users, saying they changed his life.
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Pump.fun GO, announced last week, lets users create and complete bounties for almost any task. The company pitched it as “pay anyone to do anything,” a line that sounds like internet fun until tasks become exploitative, such as permanent body modifications.
Backlash came quickly. One X user alleged the tattoo shop worker may have been exploited by someone profiting from the token's rally. A phone call from CoinDesk went unanswered. Nikita Bier, head of product at X, said: “It's sad that all the rich people left crypto and it's now the entire industry is just teenagers in America forcing poor people to do shameful things.”
The forehead tattoo was not the only push beyond normal memecoin theater. Other open bounties reviewed by CoinDesk showed widespread dares: a watermelon-eating challenge for about $93, an offer of $663 to interview homeless people in Los Angeles' Skid Row about their vote. Some turned dangerous: a bounty directed people to drink a whole bottle of alcohol while promoting a token, with video submissions showing users chugging bottles in about a minute. Another offered $266 for someone to shave their head while screaming “Jobcoin.”