In this issue:

• This Week in Neo Tokyo: Three Cheers for Three Years (by PhoenixxDown)

• pump.fun Not Fun Anymore (by Flower83)

Citizens are set to step out of the metaverse and into the IRL realm for a weekend in Sin City, Las Vegas. For those who can’t attend, there's good news: the ever-hardworking LeBoomington will provide live coverage so we can feel the action from the comfort of our homes.

Today at 11:30 am EST, some of The Citadel’s finest will take the main stage at Rare Evo for a discussion titled “Ready Player 1 or Mere Hype?” You can catch LeBoom’s live stream on our NTV YouTube channel. Word on the street is there might be a special guest appearance from the year 3022 also…

And a little later, the debauchery networking commences with our 3 Year Anniversary Event at the JRNY Gallery, which will also be live-streamed! There’s still time to register, so don’t miss out if you’re in the area! More info here.

This is how things shaped up with the NT content:

Meet Your Citizens - This week's episode focuses on the one and only Meridiosyncrasy, the artistic genius behind some of those delightful garments in Shibuya Mall. Join Block Editor and her guest as they discuss Meridiosyncrasy's journey to The Citadel and Shibuya Mall, from her unique background in fashion, design, and merchandising!

Market Monday - Large bullish candles (albeit briefly) were back on the McMenu in time for this week's episode, providing a lighter discussion than previous weeks.

But that didn’t stop degens from getting absolutely obliterated on several thousand freshly created PumpFun memecoins, or getting rugged on (ANOTHER?!) fake Trump coin. Alas, the team discusses it all, along with the debut of a great audience speaker, Frankie J, who was a breath of fresh air on the panel. Listen back here.

Interlinked #42 - This week features the big brains behind Champz, the RPG-P2E based in a mushroom world where you battle, strategize, and embark to conquer Arborethia to earn $ETH for your efforts! Hosted by Ben and Jared, key discussions include the tokenomics of $CHAMPZ, Austrian economics, and the dark side of gaming.

Astra Nova AMA - The Citadel hosts the CEO and Co-Founder of Abyssal_DG, discussing the game's exceptional graphics, rich narrative, and AAA-grade action combat. Listen back here.

Looping back from our opener, Video Lead, LeBoomington, has posted a thorough update on what the division has been up to. A lot, in short! But you can read it in full here to grasp the weight of what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Last week, we asked if BYTES were undervalued. It looks like that broken clock alpha hit the bullseye because, thanks to Citizen Leads Chr0nicle and Ben Gothard, BYTES holders are about to see some opportunities come their way!

You know the drill, Rule #3 prevents us from publishing anything for all and sundry to view. But the main takeaway from Chr0nicle’s Outreach Division announcement is to keep your notifications on for the Outreach channel and, of course, the main announcement channels. Read in full here, along with news on a citizens-exclusive Fableborne bonus and an upcoming Revolving Games Node Sale.

While we’re at it, this is your periodic reminder to check in on the Founders Pings channel. Recent news comes from citizens leading VersusX, Rambe Games, The Admiral (our Discord summary bot), ARES, and Birthmark. Get updated here.

Three cheers for three years! We’re just getting started.

Until next week, citizens.

This week we have seen unprecedented levels of hate towards pump.fun. It seems to come out all of a sudden.

There are, however, a few things worth pointing out that contributed to this, and when you piece it all together, the hate almost seems… justified?

Let’s explore a few reasons why people don't want to play with it anymore after what went down this week.

Pump.fun’s Huge Revenue Is Not Shared With Users

First off, pump.fun has exceeded all expectations and has been making around $3 million for a while now.

In fact, on the day when Elon and Trump met on X for their discussion, it was almost double that amount. With every project looking to tokenize, people have asked “wen airdrop?” many times with no clear answer from the team.

Not Many Users Are Making Money

So, okay, they wont give people rewards or an airdrop, but also it looks like they have set up a system where most of the traders are exploited and only devs and founders win in the end.

It’s like playing in a casino with odds stacked against you. The current statistic is that more than 99% of tokens deployed rug within a few hours.

Too Many Ruggers and Jeeters

This got so bad lately that they had to ban India, raising concerns of crypto’s core values. It looks like professional scammers have evolved from web2 tactics into mass-deploying and rugging coins. One thing is certainly true; when you have equal odds of winning and losing, things are fun. When you mostly lose, well, it's not fun anymore.

Too Much Competition

The whole premise of pump.fun is to “...launch a coin that is instantly tradeable for under $2 in one click.” But what happens when everyone starts doing this for any new decently funny meme that might go viral?

You just get oversaturation of the whole space, as everyone rushes to be the first one to make a coin from a phrase, or moment, or a picture, or an event; and because memes are so fleeting, everyone dumps before anything organic and long-lasting can even build up.

Taunting Their Userbase

On 13th August, pump.fun tweeted out a controversial tweet, boasting about their metrics, while not addressing any of the concerns above. If you look at the comment section it is clear that people are not very supportive of this treatment.

And there you have it. A few reasons why people are distancing themselves from pump.fun.

I see all this as healthy for the space however, who knows, maybe sometime soon we can all return to trading and collecting NFTs?

One can only dream. Until then, 🧡

All content from Neo Tokyo News is for entertainment purposes only, and not financial advice.

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