How Far Would You Go to Pump Your Meme Coin?

A livestreaming Solana meme coin developer has been breaking speed limits and driving round-the-clock for stretches in sometimes inclement weather, all in an attempt to break the world record speed for solo-traveling all 50 American states.

Leland King Fawcette set out in his Hyundai Kona on June 11 from White River Junction, Vermont. He must finish in Honolulu on June 19 by 7:33 PM EDT to beat the record.

At the time of writing, Fawcette had completed 47 of the 50 states in approximately seven days, and said he was on track to smash the record—but there were still vast distances to cover.

“The problem is: These are the big Western states. These are the ones where you drive through them for six hours and don’t hit anything,” the streamer told Decrypt. “[They] are bigger than most countries are. Having to drive across them and through them is going to be mind-numbing.”

The All Fifty States Club is a challenge created in 1998 by Barry Stiefel, who finished his trip around the country in the current record of eight days and seven hours.

Fawcette unveiled the Solana meme coin 50STATES on June 11, the first day of his odyssey, as he set off to break Stiefel’s record. With a camera strapped on top of his vehicle, he began livestreaming the trip on Pump.fun, the token launchpad that he used to create the coin.

The event is one of a long line of streams born on Pump.fun, which has taken over as a favored platform for meme coin creators and others who previously had to use third-party sites.

Fawcette believes that he holds the upper hand over the forefather of the Fastest to Fifty because of the invention of satellite navigation and a more efficient route.

“I also wanted to do this to spite Barry [Stiefel], because I could not believe that he could get around all of America in eight days and seven hours by himself,” Fawcette said. “It’s like, I need to see if it’s actually possible. If even with modern technology we can’t get a sub-eight-day, seven-hour time, I’m going to call [Stiefel’s record] into question.”

Three men completed the challenge in five days and 13 hours in May 2022, according to the All Fifty States Club site, documenting the journey on YouTube. The drivers rotated in eight-hour shifts.

50STATES peaked at a market cap just shy of $1 million on Saturday but has since plummeted to a current cap of about $180,000. One viewer told Decrypt that “many people are suspicious” that someone is suppressing the price, but they also explained that they are certain it’ll recover.

“I think he is trying to do something real, but the community is sometimes pessimistic,” viewer and trader Leonardo Sant told Decrypt. “He will break the record, that is for sure.”

Users on prediction market Myriad believe that Fawcette will set the solo record, penciling in a nearly 61% chance of success as of this writing. (Disclosure: Myriad Markets is a product of Decrypt‘s parent company, DASTAN.)

How did we get here?

Livestreaming events to support meme coins dates back more than a year.

In May 2024, a kid and his apparent mom begged viewers on their livestream to invest in their meme coin. The pair promised to perform lurid stunts on camera if the token reached certain market capitalization milestones, including pouring milk over the mom’s breasts. The event went viral.

Following this event, Fawcette introduced multiple separate livestreaming tokens, i.e., IMLIVEKICK, which all plummeted to zero in no time. At the time, the streamer blamed the failure of his projects on sniper bots buying up the token supply when it debuted and “rugging” his viewers. To combat this, he attempted to retaliate against snipers by intentionally rugging his own projects immediately after launch, all while telling his viewers not to buy them.

Other developers have also used Pump.fun to promote stunt-themed coins tied to livestreams, including one coin creator who set himself on fire, resulting in third-degree burns across 30% of his body. Livestreaming is now a native feature on the site, enabling a new wave of controversial viral streams.

Edited by James Rubin and Andrew Hayward