Streaming media has entered the speculative era, Pump.fun creates a super-financialized live broadcast for the younger generation.

Author: VelvetMilkman, encryption KOL

Compiled by: Felix, PANews

When Facebook first launched, it seemed insignificant: just a digital college yearbook with no obvious business model. The older generation saw it as a toy, unable to foresee how the company would later monetize attention on a global scale. Twitter faced the same skepticism. It was derided as a platform for people to announce what they were having for lunch, but it gradually evolved into the nervous system of global politics and media. Even Roblox was seen by many as just a children’s video game. However, the platform later proved to be a laboratory for the virtual economy and user-generated worlds. Time and again, those platforms initially regarded as curiosities ultimately grew into global cultural infrastructure, becoming sources of immense wealth.

Pump.fun is also at a similar turning point. To many, the team's foray into live streaming seems impractical, even absurd. Pump has long been derided as a fleeting "meme coin" farce. But viewing it this way overlooks its enduring vitality and the fact that it has repeatedly outperformed competitors in just a few weeks. Pump is laying the groundwork for a new generation of a lifetime online internet economy. This is a world where culture and speculation are not separate but intertwined. With streaming returning to their portfolio, they are now setting their sights on becoming an entertainment portal for audience participation in financial activities.

The streaming economy indicates the limitations of existing models and the opportunities for new entrants to disrupt these established companies, such as Twitch and Kick. Twitch is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon, taking a 50% cut from each subscription, while a medium creator with 1,000 simultaneous viewers may earn only $600 per month (even after accounting for subscription revenue, ads, and tips). Kick, supported by the gambling platform Stake, offers a 95% revenue share. Kick's generosity is maintained through subsidies. Streamers eligible for Kick's incentive program may earn over $6,000 per month, even with the same number of viewers, nearly 10 times that of Twitch. However, this economic model is unrealistic. They rely on funding from Stake, hoping to attract new users to its online casino. The economic viability of these models cannot support themselves independently.

Revenue sharing model between existing platforms and creators

The incentive model of Pump directly addresses these contradictions, providing creators with a way to achieve profits in advance. Streamers who launch tokens no longer rely on subscriptions or advertisers; creators can now directly create demand through live streaming. This flywheel is simple: live streaming triggers speculation, speculation drives revenue from fees, creators can choose to execute buybacks, buybacks generate narratives, and narratives feed back into new live streams. For the next wave of live streamers seeking innovation, this is a unique selling point. Revenue is no longer limited solely by audience size, but depends on the willingness of the audience to participate.

This is not a minor change to the creator incentive mechanism. Pump redefines the meaning of online live streaming. A creator who earns $10 million annually from sponsorships only needs to allocate a relatively small portion for token buybacks, and the tokens tied to their online persona will suddenly function like an investment, embedded with ongoing demand in their structure. The community is no longer passive, but chooses to invest in creators economically (and emotionally).

The younger generation tends to choose new media formats to obtain daily news and current affairs. Once you delve into these consumption habits, it is not hard to imagine that they would buy tokens of their favorite streamers (even if not immediately, they would purchase once they are capable or realize that owning tokens can generate value). In this new incentive model, the token valuations of the most popular creators may exceed those of established tech companies. Investors and traders are not just buying simple cash flows: they are purchasing access to culture, identity, and community.

The above scenario is not purely hypothetical. Earlier this year, President Trump launched his $TRUMP meme coin shortly after winning the election and invited the top 220 holders to a dinner; the top 25 holders also received a special VIP trip to the White House and were hosted by the president at a private reception. These holders collectively spent nearly $150 million to secure their status. Just this news alone caused the token price to rise by more than 50%. While this may sound absurd, it is the reality, and it proves that token ownership can bring both financial rewards and tangible social opportunities. In other words, the vision of Pump making streaming tokens a cultural norm is gradually taking shape among celebrities and high-level politicians.

What critics overlook is that Pump is professionalizing financial wonders, just as sports professionalize physical advantages, and esports professionalize digital mastery. In a highly financialized era, trading imitates art, just as art imitates trading. A crash is no longer the end of a career; it is the climax of a narrative. Running away with funds no longer signifies the end of someone's career; it is a ritual that solidifies the legend of the anti-hero. Risks and losses are no longer flaws in the system but are repackaged as cultural creations and shared content.

Tokens will not always remain in a speculative position. They will continue to evolve into tools for managing access, business, and community loyalty. Just as TikTok integrates shopping into entertainment, Pump will embed wonder into speculation. The boundary between financial participation and cultural participation will disappear. Audiences will not feel like they are watching from the stands but will cheer from the sidelines. The audience identity will evolve into their own micro-economies: organizing funding pools, coordinating buybacks, and managing collective assets.

Human beings have always showcased their value through performance. In Rome, there were gladiators; in the industrial era, there were athletes; in the digital age, there are gamers; and in the financial era, traders will continue to be elevated higher and higher. In the latest arena, there are no boundaries between spectators and participants. Watching traders operate requires just a click to join in. The exciting moments are no longer just dunks or Oscar-level performances, but will be presented alongside parabolic charts, waves of liquidation, or dramatic buybacks that reshape token prices in real-time. Finance is no longer relegated to the background; it is gradually taking center stage.

Absurdity and obscenity are entirely subjective concepts. The longer something exists, the more likely it is to be widely accepted. The lesson of history is that seemingly trivial things often contain the seeds of change. Social networks were once seen as toys before becoming cultural infrastructure, and online dating was once mocked, yet it is now commonplace. For some, creator tokens seem meaningless, just noise. But skeptics will soon stand up, wondering why they didn't notice the opportunities sooner.

Pump is not merely a simple addition of speculative behavior to streaming. It has the potential to reshape the relationship between creators, audiences, and capital, forming a self-sustaining and scalable system. Content generates demand. Demand spawns buybacks. Buybacks create culture. Culture generates more content. The cycle is complete. We have created a flywheel.

Money itself is a form of culture. Pump is the first platform to publicly acknowledge this and build a track for its expansion. The highlight of the next decade will be a chart.

People often see the live broadcasts of Pump as a fleeting phenomenon, believing it will not last. However, when looking at Pump's data (revenue, distribution across various streaming categories, and the continuously growing daily active viewers, etc.), it is difficult to conclude that it is not worth paying close attention to. For those readers who have this viewpoint after reading so far, try to temporarily set aside your doubts, cast aside your prejudices, and think about what the future will look like in a few years. Discussions about excessive financialization will not stop on CT. They chatter about it incessantly, making you feel that it is inevitable.

This is precisely a manifestation of excessive financialization. With recent great successes, public opinion has shifted. It is hard to imagine that in the future world, streaming hosts will still need to bow to platforms like Twitch or Kick to secure distribution channels. I personally believe that a more likely scenario is that the first-generation entrepreneurs will seize the opportunity to merge live streaming and creator tokens into an engine that is both culturally impactful and economically profitable. We are currently experiencing a form of accelerated capitalism: it integrates entertainment and investment on the same stage.

The boundaries between audiences and stakeholders have begun to blur. Seemingly absurd things have achieved astonishing results in just one week under the spotlight. Over time, this will seem more and more taken for granted. Pump is not the inventor of live streaming, but it will push this form to its logical extreme. The team is entering the live streaming field, potentially bringing Pump to the forefront of culture.

You may not agree and you can choose not to participate, but Pump is showcasing an inevitable future. Don't let your discomfort blind you to the insight that the existing landscape may change rapidly. This situation often arises much faster than anyone anticipates.

Related reading: Can live streaming be tokenized? How Pump.fun builds a creator capital market to challenge Twitch and Kick.