Earlier this month, crypto marketplace Pump.fun launched an extremely dubious new bounty marketplace that feels like it was directly inspired by the dystopian sci-fi TV show “Black Mirror.”
The feature, called “GO,” allows crypto holders to throw money at desperate people to do humiliating things. For instance, it’s been used to pay a Black man to cover himself in watermelon while repeating the phrase “I’m your friend, the watermelon man” 10,000 times. One $690,000 bounty even called for a suicide-related task, sparking widespread criticism.
One particularly egregious type of task has floated to the top: humiliating forehead tattoos. Last week a man named Arivu in in Southern India accepted a bounty offering 40 SOL, worth roughly $2,600 at today’s rate, to tattoo the phrase “$boutywork” above his eyes — a painful procedure he documented in a June 6 video.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, it should’ve read “$bountywork” instead. However, Arivu followed the misspelled directions, eventually inspiring the crypto community to launch an actual meme coin called “$boutywork.”
The utterly unethical stunt attracted enough attention to send the $boutywork token soaring, reaching a market cap of $373,000 within hours. It’s a familiar scam: a dubious meme coin attracts enormous amounts of hype, only to come crashing back down hard, leaving those who didn’t get out in time holding the bag.
At least Arivu managed to get in on the scheme himself, reportedly earning just shy of $29,000 in transaction fees, or payments required to process transactions. That’s because the individuals who kickstarted the token decided to route those fees to him apparently as a reward for his dedication.
But considering his unfortunate new tattoo prominently visible on his forehead, the value proposition still feels dubious.
In short, Pump.fun has effectively put a price on humiliation, which feels like the logical conclusion for a society prone to falling for crypto scams and willing to bet money on the outcomes of deadly armed conflict. It’s the kind of development you’d expect from a dystopian sci-fi flick set in a world where inequality and moral decay have become ubiquitous.
Even members of the crypto community are now raising alarm bells. To them, it’s the straw that could finally break the camel’s back — although if feels questionable to assume the meme coin community, which has long been overrun by scammers, had a reputation to uphold in the first place.
“How do we convince normies that Crypto is still a serious industry when we are slowly encouraging a disturbing trend where bounty platforms have turned attention into a task marketplace,” one user tweeted. “Instead of ‘make a meme’ or ‘write a thread,’ people are now being rewarded for permanent body changes, public embarrassment, risky stunts, and real-life disruption.”
X’s head of product Nikita Bier appeared similarly dismayed by the hot new crypto trend.
“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,” he tweeted in response to the latest ordeal.
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