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In 2025, who'd have guessed that people were making whole careers simply by streaming games, posting TikToks, or making content online? More than this, some of the big dogs like Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson and Kai Cenat are making millions of dollars from doing it.
While MrBeast is notoriously cagey about his earnings and once claimed he had less than a million dollars in the bank (poor him), he has more recently admitted to being a billionaire. Then again, having the most-subbed YouTube account is sure to keep the money flowing.
It's not just views on videos that generate money, with a controversial trend allowing people to donate other amounts to their favorite content creators. We sadly saw this go wrong when a Korean streamer was murdered by a viewer who supposedly donated $70,000 to her, while others have called out how some people can become 'obsessed' with creators and go beyond their means to throw money at them.
Korean streamer Yoon Ji-ah has been found dead after attack by a longtime viewer who donated almost $70k to her
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) October 9, 2025
The incident occurred after she tried to cut ties with the man in his 50s pic.twitter.com/RsHygBRijH
Bucking the trend, Charles "MoistCr1TiKaL" White Jr has turned off monetization on his YouTube channel. As reported by Dexerto, MoistCr1TiKaL has outright banned monetization in all forms, meaning he's even disabled the ability to stump up for super chats and channel memberships.
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Explaining the move in an October 9 video, White said he's also raised the minimum Bit donation on Twitch to a ridiculously high amount, meaning no one will (hopefully) ever donate to it.
Expanding on his thoughts, MoistCr1TiKaL said: "Once you opt into the Partner program or whatever, you can’t turn off bits or subs.
“For subs, I can’t get rid of that. If I could, I would. I would say toodle-oo, give it a strong slap on the ass, tell it good game and goodbye. But from what I can tell, there are a lot of hoops to jump through in order to accomplish that."
Imploring viewers to heed his words, the streamer said: "I just want to strongly urge you, do not waste your money subbing to me on Twitch.”
With "how everything’s been going,” he urged his viewers to hold onto their money more than ever: "I think it is crucial you get your finances in a f**king Full Nelson and you just don’t let those puppies fly willy-nilly, donating clams to a goofball like me."
If you still feel you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, MoistCr1TiKaL tells you to donate to charity: "There are so many good charities doing extremely good work that could be benefited greatly from your contribution. That would be a significantly better use of that money than donating it to me."
While he's already touted the idea, the streamer said now was the right time to pull the plug: "I feel like this is long overdue, it’s something I should have done a while ago, but I had convinced myself I could deliver something of value to people that were paying.
"I just don’t think there’s any value in giving money during a stream to get my attention, so that way I talk about it for a second. That’s just not a good use of your money."
Could this be the start of a movement where others follow in White's footsteps? He's far from the first streamer to call out donations, with the likes of Zack "Asmongold" speaking out about 'paypig' donations in the aftermath of Yoon Ji-ah's murder.
This was the same Asmongold who once streamed on a Twitch account that wasn't partnered, so that viewers were forced to watch ads. A frustrated Twitch was vexed about how much money it was losing due to the size of Hoyt's channel, then forced him to monetize it.
