Solana Chain Carnival: Can Pump.fun's CCM Reshape the Creator Economy?

Pump.fun, a popular memecoin launchpad on Solana, has introduced a new concept called Creator Capital Markets (CCM) alongside its latest update, Project Ascend. This update aims to reshape the creator economy by directly linking a creator's financial success to their community's engagement through tokenization.

Project Ascend & Dynamic Fees: The core update is a new Dynamic Fees V1 system. This tiered fee structure means creators of tokens with a higher market capitalization receive a lower percentage of transaction fees, while smaller projects contribute a higher rate. The goal is to incentivize creators to focus on long-term growth rather than short-term profit-taking, potentially increasing creator earnings tenfold.
Key Creator Case Studies: The update catalyzed significant activity, highlighted by the return of controversial figures and the success of various creator tokens.
- Mitch (@MitchOnSOL_): A legendary, albeit banned, trader launched his token $MITCH. He personally holds 80% of the supply, leading to a market value that soared past $42 million shortly after launch.
- Rasmr (@rasmr_eth): A well-followed researcher and streamer, he has built a community around his livestreams and holds a significant portion of his own token, $rasmr, which maintains a multi-million dollar market cap.
- Gainzy: An "old-school" trader represents a more traditional approach to streaming, focusing on content and community over pure speculation. His token's price has seen steady growth.
- BASEDD House: A content creator collective that has evolved to deeply integrate with the Pump.fun livestreaming ecosystem, fostering multiple community tokens.
CCM: Innovation or Speculation?: The CCM model proposes a radical shift where a creator's influence is directly tradable via tokens, allowing supporters to share in their success beyond tips or subscriptions. However, this model is not without controversy. Pump.fun's livestreaming feature has been criticized for a lack of regulation, enabling inappropriate content and significant market speculation. The community is divided, with some hailing it as the future of the creator economy and others dismissing it as another speculative bubble poised to harm retail investors.

The update has undeniably ignited activity on Solana, but whether CCM represents a sustainable innovation or a fleeting trend remains to be seen.

Yesterday, the Solana chain was quite lively. First, $CARD and $ZARD led the on-chain RWA craze for Pokémon cards, and then the well-known KOL HIM led the CS2 skin market $HUCH, and the market value also soared. It seems that the concept of ICM is gaining momentum on Solana.

At the same time, PumpFun released a version update video, launched Project Ascend and Dynamic Fees V1, and proposed a new concept Creator Capital Markets (CCM). At first glance, it seems that the product ideas of Heaven and Bags are not much different from those of some time ago.

This also triggered the return of a number of project developers, including the long-banned Memecoin trader Mitch, who launched his own live-streaming token on Pumpfun, which saw its market value exceed $42 million within three hours. This series of activity led to a general rise in other live-streaming tokens, while Pumpfun's token creation and graduation rates both increased by over 40%.

Pumpfun’s ambition this time seems to be not just to have ICM, but to use the concept of CCM to make pumpfun a more extreme version of Twitch.

Project Ascend Innovation

According to an official announcement from Pump.fun, the core change introduced by Project Ascend is the Dynamic Fees V1 system. This new tiered creator fee structure radically changes the previous fixed-rate model. Under the previous system, creators received the same percentage of transaction fees regardless of their token's market capitalization. Now, the system introduces a dynamic fee rate tied to market capitalization—tokens with higher market capitalization receive lower creator fees, while smaller projects continue to contribute higher fees. The rationale behind this design is to encourage creators to focus on the long-term growth of their tokens, rather than short-term cashing out.

 PumpSwap transaction fees and content creator earnings for tokens with different market capitalizations

Officials claim that this update increases creators' potential earnings tenfold. For creators who successfully manage the token ecosystem, this means they no longer need to sell their holdings to profit, instead earning a steady income through a consistent share of transaction fees. This paradigm shift is a key step in Pump.fun's efforts to address the widespread "pump and dump" problem within the memecoin ecosystem.

Dynamic Fees V1 applies to all PumpSwap tokens, both newly issued and existing, while maintaining the same protocol and liquidity provider fee distribution. For "abandoned" projects whose creators have vanished, fees will flow to the community. CTO projects can apply to receive creator fees, and Pump.fun promises a significantly faster approval process.

Mitch's Return: A Small-Town Story from Broke to Millionaire

After Pump.fun announced its update, the first major returnee was Mitch (@MitchOnSOL_), a legendary trader who was banned multiple times by Platform X. His story is well-known in the Solana memecoin community.

He entered the crypto space in 2022 and initially profited through contract trading, but lost nearly all his funds due to an addiction to online blackjack. By 2023, he had only 1 SOL left, but he achieved a 100x return by buying Milady. He then invested in popular memecoins like Retardio, pushing his assets to a peak of $8 million.

Mitch's success is as notable as his controversial nature within the community. Community members like TMtheOG accused him of being an "insider" of the Pump.fun team, claiming he laundered millions of dollars through soft rug pulls, leading to his official ban from X. However, supporters like imperooterxbt defended him, arguing that he was one of the few influencers who openly purchased high-market-cap tokens and promoted them like a regular community member, rather than solely promoting insider projects he held. The reason for his ban was extortion from X. While this was only Mitch's side of the story, some supportive community members still voiced their support, chanting "Free Mitch."

This time, Mitch launched his own creator coin, $MITCH. He personally purchased 80% of the supply, stating that neither he would lock it up nor sell it, but would only give it away in future livestreams, with only 20% ultimately entering circulation. In his announcement, he emphasized that this wasn't a charity, but rather a "personal experiment for fun." However, the striking $24 million in his address, God.SOL, made this experiment truly "entertaining" for him.

MITCH quickly launched MOONSHOT after its launch, which also allowed its market value to exceed 42 million US dollars in a short period of time. However, if calculated based on the "circulating market value", the highest market value was only about 8.4 million US dollars.

Rasmr's Livestreaming Empire: From Researcher to Memecoin Influencer

Equally garnering attention alongside Mitch is blockchain researcher rasmr_eth (@rasmr_eth). As a core member of the probablynothing community, he joins well-known streamer ThreadGuy, former DEGODS founder Frank Degod, and OGshoots. Some of these individuals form an insider group known as the "Hookah Gang." They have issued numerous high-market-cap tokens, many of which are soft-coins, a source of controversy.

Rasmr has been active in the crypto space since 2011 and currently has over 117,000 followers. His influence lies not only in his research and analysis, but also in the unique community culture he has built through live streaming.

Rasmr has called other creators during live broadcasts to discuss memecoin opportunities (sometimes with insider information), and these "classic meme moments" often become hot topics in the community.

He streams on his Twitch channel and pumpfun, covering trading demonstrations, blockchain discussions, and even livestreams of games like Path of Exile 2. His posts demonstrate a strong sense of community, and he often engages in memecoin fervor, from taking Muard out on the street to force-sell Chillhouse to people, to visiting traditional fund companies to promote Fartcoin. While quite nonsensical, it does, in some ways, introduce more people to memecoins.

The live broadcast token $rasmr he previously launched currently has a market value fluctuating between 5 and 7 million US dollars, and he also holds 80% of the token.

Old School Trader Gainzy

Gainzy started to get involved in crypto during the 2017 crypto bull market. At that time, he participated in multiple projects that allowed him to obtain a 10-fold return on his assets. However, with the collapse of FTX, he eventually lost most of his assets due to the bankruptcy of the platform.

He considers the "hellish" experience of the 2018-2019 bear market trough a valuable lesson, often sharing it in his livestreams as CT history (Crypto Twitter History). He began by scalping, excelling at profiting in volatile markets. He believes that long-term holdings are generally risky due to the influence of the DXY (US Dollar Index), bond yields, and Federal Reserve announcements, which is why he also enjoys trading Memecoins.

He represents a different approach to livestreaming. Compared to other streamers, he's more of a "boomer" (old-school) type. His livestreams are pretty regular, starting at 10 a.m. every day, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours, just like a regular workday. Sometimes he shares technical analysis and trading strategies, sometimes he discusses the market, and sometimes he just gambles with friends or shares his personal life.

He self-deprecatingly calls himself "Washed," saying most of his followers come from the early cycle (2017-2022), when algorithms were unfavorable to new traffic. He emphasized the essence of the streamer identity: "Most are destined to fail (NPCs or boring people), and only a few main characters can stand out." Interestingly, although he issued his own live streaming token, he distanced himself from others' live streaming tokens. He stated that while he recognizes their potential, in this sector, content quality is far more important than short-term profit.

The price of his token GNZYSTRM has been rising steadily since it was launched in April, basically fluctuating between 2 million and 5 million market capitalization.

BASEDD

BASEDD was launched by Jacky and others in early 2024, initially focusing on NFT and memecoin projects in the Solana ecosystem. By 2025, it evolved into "BASEDD House", a content creation center focused on physical and virtual. In March 2025, they announced the Summer Content House program, selecting 7 creators through a "talent show" series, focusing on short videos, live broadcasts, vlogs, and cross-platform activations (such as Twitch, YouTube, Pump.fun). The program aims to break the "CT echo chamber" (Crypto Twitter echo chamber) and provide a viral content environment.

In August and September 2025, the community entered Season 2 and relocated from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, becoming deeply involved in the explosive growth of the Pump.fun live streaming track. Currently, the market capitalization of its community token, $BASEDD, remains between $2 million and $5 million.

While the community already has a token, several members also have their own "livestreaming tokens." GOON, run by @nevergoon100, for example, takes a more entertaining approach. GOON's livestreams are often filled with absurd and dramatic elements. While this style has been controversial, it has successfully attracted the attention of many young investors.

 Goon gave a child $200 worth of memecoin $USDUC during a live broadcast and asked him to download pumpfun

Is CCM an innovation or just another speculation?

The concept of Content Creator Markets (CCM) marks Pump.fun's attempt to build a radical new creator economy model. Unlike traditional content creation or livestreaming platforms like Twitch, CCM allows creators' influence to be directly represented and traded through tokens. Viewers no longer rely solely on tips or subscriptions to support creators; instead, they can share in the benefits of their success by purchasing tokens.

However, this isn't PumpFun's first attempt at this. Since its introduction in late 2024, Pump.fun's livestreaming feature has been controversial for its lack of regulation, allowing users to post inappropriate content (drug use, pornography, and extreme behavior). This has led to significant speculation and potential market manipulation, resulting in significant losses for many participants. Maintaining market order while encouraging innovation has become Pump.fun's biggest challenge.

The community's reaction to CCM was sharply divided. Threadguy, in his post, argued that the era of "influence being directly exchanged for money" had arrived. However, a significant number of critics argued that this was just another speculative bubble, with retail investors ultimately the victims.

Is this Pump.fun update a significant step forward in the evolution of the memecoin ecosystem, or another bubble about to burst? The answer will likely be determined by the market and time.

But what is certain is that in the world of Web3, the relationship between creators and supporters is being redefined.