David Edwards
A planned class-action complaint against Pump.fun, a Solana-based memecoin platform, alleges that all tokens issued on the platform are unregistered securities, resulting in fees of around $500 million.
Claims of Market Manipulation and Securities Violations
Diego Aguilar filed the case on January 30 in a federal court in New York, alleging that Pump.fun and its purported parent company, Baton Corporation, based in the United Kingdom, used guerilla marketing techniques to inflate demand for extremely volatile tokens, resulting in significant losses for investors.
As stated in the complaint:
“Pump.fun’s core function is to work alongside influencers to co-issue and market unregistered securities. Inherent to its operations are a novel evolution in Ponzi and pump-and-dump schemes.”
Alon Cohen, Dylan Kerler, and Noah Bernhard Hugo Tweedale are named in the lawsuit as officers of Baton Corporation according to UK Companies House records.
A lawsuit seeks damages and the revocation of token purchases.
Aguilar is targeting all tokens on Pump.fun, labeling them as “unregistered security memecoins,” and he claims to have bought several memecoins through the platform. According to the lawsuit, Pump.fun controlled the pricing, advertising, and liquidity of tokens on its platform by acting as both an issuer and a statutory seller.
Additionally, Burwick Law claimed that:
“In the past few months, Pump.fun has collected hundreds of millions of dollars in fees while illicit drug use, self-harm, racism, antisemitism, lewd acts, bestiality, violent and other antisocial acts were displayed on the platform.”
The introduction of Trump family memecoins in mid-January propelled Pump.fun to a recent weekly trading volume top of $3.3 billion, despite the legal issues.
Information on Pump.fun’s and Baton Corporation’s legal counsel is still unavailable, and neither company has responded publicly to date.
