How the dev earns
A dev can receive trading fees, sell tokens, own a fee-earning liquidity position, or receive product revenue. Treasury funding may also pay for work. Record each source separately. Fee income can continue during a busy market while traders lose money.
- Token sales: save units sold, money received after costs, and remaining holdings.
- Creator fee share: read the platform rule, identify the recipient, and check payments.
- Token fees: inspect program settings, rate, cap, controller, and exemptions.
- Liquidity fees: check the position owner and earnings withdrawn.
- Treasury funding: follow incoming funds, signers, destinations, and documented use.
- Product revenue: use available customer or financial records; mark missing evidence.
A creator share may already be part of the trading venue's fee. Check the rule before adding it again to the trader's costs.
Earned, waiting, and received
Accrued means earned under the fee rule but still waiting to be paid or withdrawn. A claim is the action that withdraws available earnings. Check the transaction to establish what was actually received.
“Eligible volume” means the trading amount that qualifies under the platform's fee rule. Check which trades, pools, periods, and exceptions the rule includes before multiplying a percentage.
What does Pay Dev mean?
Record the platform, exact badge, token, and time. Read its current explanation and check the related transaction and recipient. Axiom, Pump, and Padre may use labels differently; leave an unexplained label unverified. Keep DEX Paid profile-payment information in a separate entry.
Promotion and actual buying
Posts, boosts, KOL mentions, raids, partnerships, and product launches can attract attention. A KOL is a prominent commentator or influencer; a raid is coordinated posting or engagement. Check purchases to see who bought and how much.
The creator may pay for promotion or fund purchases. Open dated primary sources for partnerships and catalysts, and confirm the connection to the token's full address. Compare purchases by the confirmed creator group with other buying. Private promotion payments, custody, and unobserved wallets can leave incentives unknown.
For a first-30-minute surge, check large receiving owners and their funding. A router may handle the trade on their behalf. Compare the same pools and equal periods before and after group support stops. One public buy may be small compared with previous sales or transferred holdings.
How to investigate it
- Save current rules for the platform and token mode. Find the fee recipient and rights to change it.
- Open payment or claim transactions. Save asset, amount, recipient, signature, and time. Keep earned-but-waiting fees separate from money received and token-sale proceeds.
- Date the trading surge and identify its pools. Open large buys, receiving owners, first funding, previous trades, and creator links.
- Compare confirmed-group buying, sales, remaining holdings, uncertain owners, and other buying over equal periods with consistent coverage.
- Check promotion disclosures and catalyst sources. Follow claimed spending to outgoing payments, bills, or delivered work. Missing feed items or private arrangements stay unresolved.
Practical case — illustrative
SAMPLE's made-up rule charges 1% on $100,000 of qualifying trades and gives the creator 30% of that fee: $100,000 × 1% × 30% = $300. At 09:35 UTC, $300 has been earned. A later transaction shows $200 received and $100 waiting to be withdrawn. These rates are teaching figures; use the real platform's rule for a real token.
From 09:00 to 09:30 UTC, the confirmed group bought 4m tokens and sold 4m. These trades are already included in its 12m balance. Other observed buyers bought 2m. Buying slows in the next equal period after the group stops. That raises a question about how much continuing demand depends on group support. It also shows why fees, buying, and remaining holdings need separate records.
Keep this record
Save the fee rule and recipient, earned and received amounts, claims, token sales, and spending evidence. Add a buyer-activity record with periods, pools, coverage, group trades, other buying, promotions, catalyst sources, and unknown owners. Label token units and money separately.
Add these findings to your review worksheet →
Check your understanding — answered
Does the creator need to sell tokens to get paid? It may earn fees or other revenue. Check the actual mechanism and its transactions.
The badge says Pay Dev. What happened? Verify its definition and transaction before recording a payment.
A famous wallet bought or price doubled. Who caused the move? Check funding, previous sales, transfers, liquidity changes, remaining holdings, and primary sources.
Many posts appeared, or funds moved to treasury. What should I verify? Check actual buying separately. For spending, find the outgoing payment and evidence of its purpose.
Mechanism references
SAMPLE is made up for this course. Date each finding. For a real token, use current transaction records and platform rules. Inspect shows sampled trades; use external records to check ownership and permissions.