Pump.Fun Faces Lawsuit In NY Over Alleged Unregistered Securities

A new lawsuit targets Solana-based meme coin platform Pump.fun, accusing it of profiting from unregistered securities.

The class-action suit, filed on 30 January in a New York federal court, claims the platform earned nearly $500million in fees from token launches.

Diego Aguilar, the lead plaintiff, alleges that Pump.fun used aggressive marketing tactics to promote volatile tokens, leading to heavy losses for retail investors. The complaint describes the platform’s model as a new version of Ponzi and pump-and-dump schemes.

First major legal action against Pump.fun

The lawsuit identifies the UK-registered Baton Corporation as the company behind Pump.fun. It also names three executives: CEO Noah Tweedale, COO Alon Cohen, and CTO Dylan Kerler. Cohen declined to comment, stating that he was speaking for himself and not the company. The other two executives were unavailable for comment.

Aguilar claims he lost money trading three Pump.fun-created tokens — FWOG, FRED, and GRIFFAIN. While the platform does not directly create tokens, the suit argues that it acts as a “joint issuer” by providing automated tools that allow anyone to launch and sell tokens within minutes.

Wolf Popper LLP, the law firm representing Aguilar, filed a separate class-action lawsuit against Pump.fun on 16 January. That case alleges that Baton Corporation and its executives marketed PNUT, a Solana-based meme coin, as an unregistered security. The PNUT token once hit a $1billionmarket cap but has since dropped 89% from its peak price of $2.25 in November.

Wolf Popper LLP is also involved in another lawsuit against the promoters of HAWK, a meme coin tied to influencer Hailey Welch, known as Hawk Tuah.

Pump.fun, which launched only a year ago, has already faced regulatory scrutiny. The UK’s financial regulator issued a warning against the platform last March, prompting it to block users from the region.

The company also faced backlash for a now-disabled livestream feature that allowed inappropriate content to be shared.