Pump.fun Streamers Rake in $83K from Leaked Drake & Future Tracks - Crypto’s Latest Cash Grab Exposed
Crypto influencers just found their newest revenue stream—leaking unreleased music from hip-hop giants. Pump.fun creators pocketed a staggering $83,000 by previewing Drake and Future tracks before official release, turning intellectual property theft into instant digital profit.
The Mechanics of the Monetization Scheme
Streamers leveraged platform loopholes to monetize exclusive content drops, capitalizing on fan frenzy and crypto's notorious 'anything goes' mentality. While traditional media companies scramble with takedown notices, decentralized platforms keep payouts flowing—no royalties, no permissions, just pure speculative momentum.
Regulatory Blind Spots Meet Crypto Culture
The incident highlights crypto's ongoing dance with copyright boundaries—where 'disruption' often means bypassing legal frameworks altogether. Meanwhile, artists' teams fight watermark breaches while streamers cash BNB conversions at all-time highs. Another day, another gray area exploited—because in DeFi, if it earns, it burns.
Just remember: where there's viral content, there's someone monetizing it—legality optional, profitability guaranteed. Classic crypto finance—creating value by capturing someone else's.
Creator capital markets explode
The pair’s virality coincides with the explosive growth of what’s termed “creator capital markets.” It's a term to refer to livestreaming with a crypto token attached. It follows Pump.fun’s implementation of a new fee model at the start of the month, which has seen token deployer rewards skyrocket. Over the past week, some $20 million worth of creator rewards have been claimed, according to a Dune dashboard.
On Sunday, former League of Legends esports player Michael “BunnyFuFuu” Kurylo started streaming on Pump.fun, earning $217,000 in creator fees in just two days. BunnyFuFuu’s MOVE to Pump.fun marks the first mainstream content creator to adopt the platform.
That said, Pump.fun’s underbelly of degeneracy remains.
A user put their cat Elizabeth on a stream on Thursday and has earned $97,660 since then. Another streamer painted his face as a clown and has been running around the streets like a madman under the ticker Dare, earning $45,000 in the process. A third streamer claims he will run on a treadmill until he hits a $100 million market cap, he’s currently at $1 million and has earned $28,940 in rewards.
“I think the big thing is that Pump.fun is changing the way creators have always made money from streaming,” pseudonymous Twitch and Pump.fun livestreamer Lucky told Decrypt. “Instead of a one-way transaction [such as a donation], now the creators community can win WITH them as the channel grows.”
Pump.fun’s recent growth and inroads into the mainstream have come after it faced early controversy in the wake of its launch.
Last year, Pump.fun experienced an influx of contentious streams, including animal abuse, self-harm and a faked suicide, that forced the platform to shut down its livestreaming feature. Since its return at the start of the year with new content moderation systems, the platform has yet to experience another period of controversial streams.
