Believe Launchpad Pauses Some On-Chain Payouts, Asks Creators to Switch to PayPal

Believe, a crypto-native launchpad that enables users to create tokens by replying to tweets, appears to have quietly paused on-chain Solana payouts for roughly 100 early projects, citing a system upgrade.

Affected creators, including Zeuz, a decentralized derivative exchange on Arbitrum, were notified by email and asked to switch to PayPal or U.S. bank transfers to continue receiving fee payments.

According to an email shared by users on X, Believe said it must “process payments for ~100 early coins via PayPal or Bank Transfer instead of directly on Solana.” The notice added that the change was not ideal for the team either, but necessary due to the speed of development.

The sudden move quickly drew pushback from some web3 creators. “Aren’t we all in crypto in order to use crypto?” the Zeuz team posted on X, tagging Believe’s co-founder Ben Pasternak.

Others criticized what they described as a lack of transparency, saying the decision was communicated only via email without prior warning or a public statement.

In replies, Pasternak clarified that the update affected “around 50 coins,” adding that since then, the team has been “able to resolve many of these cases on-chain.”

The Believe team did not immediately respond to The Defiant’s request for comment.

Launched by Ben Pasternak and rebranded from Clout.me earlier this year, Believe quickly gained traction for its minimal, social-first approach to token creation. Instead of requiring technical knowledge or a decentralized application interface, the platform allows users to create memecoins by just replying to posts and tagging the Launchcoin account on X.

Launchcoin, the app’s native token originally named PASTERNAK, jumped over 8,000% in a single month this spring, briefly hitting a $300 million market cap before tumbling to around $95 million as of press time.