{"investigation":{"slug":"baton-corporation-pump-fun","entity_name":"Baton Corporation (Pump.fun)","trust_score":26,"severity_base":27,"score_modifier":-1.4,"confidence":0.85,"status":"under_investigation","content_type":"investigation","summary":"Baton Corporation Ltd. is the UK-registered company, co-founded by Alon Cohen, Dylan Kerler and Noah Tweedale, that operates Pump.fun, a Solana-based bonding-curve launchpad that has minted millions of memecoins and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in fees. The platform faces a consolidated federal RICO and securities class action in the Southern District of New York, a UK Financial Conduct Authority warning that led it to block UK users, a criminal conviction of a former contractor who stole roughly $2 million from the platform, livestream-moderation failures involving self-harm and animal-cruelty content, and allegations that insiders and affiliated parties obtained preferential trade execution (MEV) against ordinary users. Independent data indicates the large majority of tokens launched on the platform fail to gain lasting value, and its own PUMP token has traded well below its 2025 sale price.","sections":[{"content":"Pump.fun is operated by Baton Corporation Ltd., described in secondary reporting as a UK private limited company whose co-founders are Alon Cohen, Dylan Kerler and Noah Tweedale. A February 2025 federal complaint (Aguilar v. Baton Corporation Limited) names Baton Corporation Limited and its founders Alex Cohen (Alon Cohen), Dylan Kerler and Noah Bernhard Hugo Tweedale as defendants. Reporting on the company's 2026 hiring (a Chief Legal Officer role advertised with a base salary of $1 million to $5 million) quotes co-founder Alon Cohen. A related entity, the Pump Foundation, is reported to be separate from Baton Corporation, with Baton receiving roughly $100 million annually from the Foundation to cover development and operating costs. These corporate-structure details rely mainly on secondary business-press and explainer coverage rather than a primary corporate registry document obtained directly in this investigation, so they should be treated as moderately, not fully, confirmed.","heading":"Corporate Structure and Founders","sources":[{"url":"https://thedefiant.io/news/people/pump-fun-baton-corporation-clo-chief-legal-officer-salary","name":"The Defiant: Pump.fun/Baton Corporation CLO salary","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.635992/gov.uscourts.nysd.635992.184.0.pdf","name":"Court filing docket, Aguilar v. Baton Corporation (SDNY 1:25-cv-00880)","type":"court_filing","credibility":1}],"severity":"low"},{"content":"Pump.fun lets anyone create a Solana token without up-front liquidity by pricing it on an automated bonding curve: price rises as buyers purchase along the curve and falls as sellers exit, with no order book or external market maker. Pump.fun's own documentation describes the mechanism as a constant-product-style formula using virtual (synthetic) reserves, and third-party technical explainers describe it as hyperbolic rather than linear, meaning price accelerates as more tokens are bought. The platform charges a 1% fee on bonding-curve trades. Once a token's bonding curve reaches a market-cap threshold, it 'graduates': liquidity migrates to an automated market maker and the associated liquidity-pool tokens are burned. Until March 2025, graduated tokens migrated to the third-party Raydium exchange; Pump.fun then launched its own AMM, PumpSwap, so that graduations route liquidity in-house, eliminating the prior roughly 6 SOL migration fee and instead charging a 0.25% trading fee on PumpSwap (0.2% to liquidity providers, 0.05% to the protocol).","heading":"Platform Mechanics: Bonding Curve and Fees","sources":[{"url":"https://pump.fun/docs/bonding-curve","name":"Pump.fun official documentation: bonding curve","type":"official","credibility":1},{"url":"https://forklog.com/en/pump-fun-launches-its-own-dex-on-solana/","name":"ForkLog: Pump.fun launches its own DEX on Solana","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/pump-fun-launches-own-dex-dropping-raydium","name":"Cointelegraph: Pump.fun launches own DEX, dropping Raydium","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/347360/pump-fun-launches-dex-called-pumpswap-to-instantly-migrate-graduated-tokens","name":"The Block: Pump.fun launches DEX called PumpSwap","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"low"},{"content":"Pump.fun has driven very large transaction volume relative to how few tokens succeed. Solana Compass, citing on-chain tracking by The Block and Dune Analytics dashboards, reported that the platform generated roughly 42,000 new token launches in a single day, and that fewer than 2% of all tokens ever created on the platform have 'graduated' from the bonding curve to a decentralized exchange, consistent with a historical graduation rate of about 1.4%. Forbes reported the platform's cumulative revenue surpassed $500 million by February 2025, and The Block reported a single-day fee record of roughly $15.5 million around the platform's first anniversary in January 2025, by which point cumulative fees had reached about $431 million per ForkLog. On-chain analysis cited by Cointelegraph and crypto.news found that a large majority of individual trader wallets lost money: one Dune-based dataset found that roughly 56–62% of wallets that traded more than 10 Pump.fun tokens over a six-month period posted net losses, while only a few hundred wallets made over $1 million. Revenue later fell sharply as competing launchpads such as LetsBonk gained share; DL News and The Block reported Pump.fun's revenue dropping to multi-month lows in mid-2025.","heading":"Scale, Fee Revenue, and Outcomes for Launched Tokens","sources":[{"url":"https://solanacompass.com/news/pumpfun-launched-42000-tokens-in-one-day-fewer-than-2-will-ever-reach-a-dex","name":"Solana Compass: Pump.fun launched 42,000 tokens in one day; fewer than 2% will ever reach a DEX","type":"research","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.forbes.com/sites/boazsobrado/2025/02/22/from-memes-to-500-million-in-revenue-the-pumpfun-phenomenon/","name":"Forbes: From memes to $500 million in revenue, the Pump.fun phenomenon","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/337065/pump-fun-set-single-day-revenue-record-raking-in-15-5-million-in-fees-following-anniversary","name":"The Block: Pump.fun set single-day revenue record, $15.5 million in fees","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/pump-fun-crypto-traders-majority-do-not-realize-profits-dune-data","name":"Cointelegraph: Pump.fun traders — majority do not realize profits, Dune data","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://crypto.news/over-60-pump-fun-traders-saw-losses-less-than-0-01-made-over-1m/","name":"crypto.news: Over 60% of Pump.fun traders saw losses; less than 0.01% made over $1M","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://pineanalytics.substack.com/p/exit-liquidity-machines","name":"Pine Analytics (Substack): Exit Liquidity Machines","type":"research","credibility":3}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"In November 2024, Decrypt reported that a Pump.fun token creator appeared to threaten and simulate self-harm during a livestream tied to a token's market-cap target, and separately that another creator threatened to shoot a pet dog if a token missed a price goal. Cointelegraph separately reported observing livestreamed animal abuse, pornographic material, and racially offensive content on the platform's livestream board. In response, Pump.fun suspended the livestream feature indefinitely around November 25–26, 2024, stating that despite doubling its human moderation team and adding automated systems, it could not keep pace with the volume of harmful content. The company later reintroduced livestreaming in a limited rollout for a subset of users, publishing a formal moderation policy prohibiting violence, animal abuse, pornography, and content endangering minors.","heading":"Livestream Feature: Abuse and Moderation Failures (2024–2025)","sources":[{"url":"https://decrypt.co/293365/animal-cruelty-self-harm-livestream-allegations-the-dark-side-of-pump-fun","name":"Decrypt: Animal Cruelty, Self-Harm Livestream Allegations — The Dark Side of Pump.fun","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/pump-fun-pulls-live-streaming-platform-spirals-chaos/","name":"CCN: Pump.fun pulls live-streaming platform amid spiraling chaos","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.blockhead.co/2024/11/26/pump-fun-suspends-livestreams-indefinitely-amid-escalating-content-concerns/","name":"Blockhead: Pump.fun suspends livestreams indefinitely amid escalating content concerns","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/pump-fun-memecoin-freak-show-ban","name":"Cointelegraph: Pump.fun memecoin 'freak show' ban","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://intercom.help/pumpfun-web/en/articles/11399886-livestream-moderation-policy","name":"Intercom: Pump.fun Livestream Moderation Policy","type":"official","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/pump-fun-revives-livestreams-after-chaos-cratering-volume/","name":"DL News: Pump.fun revives livestreams after chaos cratering volume","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"A proposed federal class action, Aguilar v. Baton Corporation Limited d/b/a Pump.fun (S.D.N.Y., case no. 1:25-cv-00880, Judge Colleen McMahon), was filed around January 30, 2025 by plaintiff Diego Aguilar, who alleged losses trading memecoins created on Pump.fun and asserted the platform sold unregistered securities in violation of the Securities Act. Decrypt and Cointelegraph reported the suit alleges Pump.fun operated an unlicensed, unregistered securities exchange and extracted close to $500 million (later amended complaints cite $4–5.5 billion in aggregate user losses) in fees. A related, consolidated amended complaint filed around July 22–24, 2025 — reported by The Block and Cointelegraph — added civil RICO claims under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(c) and (d), alleging wire fraud, illegal gambling and unlicensed money transmission, and named Solana Labs, the Solana Foundation, Jito Labs, the Jito Foundation and several executives as co-defendants, framing the Solana ecosystem as a coordinated 'racketeering enterprise.' Cointelegraph reported the amended complaint describes Pump.fun as functioning like a 'slot machine cabinet.' Per secondary reporting on a court order, Judge McMahon granted a motion to dismiss in part on August 31, 2026, dismissing all claims against the Solana and Jito defendants with prejudice along with the Securities Act and unjust-enrichment claims, while allowing the RICO and RICO-conspiracy claims to proceed against Baton Corporation on behalf of two of the three named plaintiffs. This dismissal account comes from secondary coverage, not direct review of the court's opinion in this investigation, and should be treated as provisional pending independent confirmation. The litigation remains active as of late 2026.","heading":"Federal RICO and Securities Class Action: Aguilar v. Baton Corporation","sources":[{"url":"https://decrypt.co/303790/pump-fun-faces-class-action-lawsuit-over-alleged-500m-unregistered-securities-sales","name":"Decrypt: Pump.fun faces class action lawsuit over alleged $500M unregistered securities sales","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/pump-fun-sued-claims-all-memecoins-securities","name":"Cointelegraph: Pump.fun sued, claims all memecoins are securities","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cryptonews.com/news/pump-fun-accused-of-running-unlicensed-casino-in-5-5b-class-action-lawsuit/","name":"Cryptonews: Pump.fun accused of running unlicensed casino in $5.5B class action lawsuit","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/363996/burwick-law-names-solana-and-jito-executives-in-expanded-rico-case-against-pump","name":"The Block: Burwick Law names Solana and Jito executives in expanded RICO case against Pump","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/mev-trading-returns-court-pump-fun-class-action-lawsuit","name":"Cointelegraph: MEV trading returns to court in Pump.fun class action lawsuit","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.635992/gov.uscourts.nysd.635992.184.0.pdf","name":"CourtListener/RECAP docket, Aguilar v. Baton Corporation (SDNY 1:25-cv-00880), entry 184","type":"court_filing","credibility":1}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"Plaintiffs in the consolidated SDNY litigation allege that Pump.fun, together with Solana validator infrastructure and Jito Labs' transaction-ordering tools, allowed certain insiders and affiliated traders ('deployer-sniper' networks) to obtain priority execution and front-run ordinary retail buyers at token launch, despite the platform marketing launches as fair and permissionless. Cointelegraph and Unchained Crypto reported that, per a December 9, 2025 court order, plaintiffs were granted leave to amend their complaint citing over 5,000 internal chat logs allegedly supplied by a confidential informant, which plaintiffs say show coordination among Pump.fun, Solana Labs and Jito Labs personnel. A separate MEXC report stated no independently verified copy of the chat logs had surfaced publicly as of December 2025, so the content and authenticity of the logs should be treated as an unproven allegation made in litigation rather than an established fact. Jito Labs was later dismissed from the case without prejudice.","heading":"MEV Manipulation, Insider Sniping, and Whistleblower Chat Logs","sources":[{"url":"https://cryptonews.com/news/pumpfun-mev-scandal-leaks-lawsuit/","name":"Cryptonews: Whistleblower drops 5,000+ secret chats in Pump.fun MEV scandal","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://unchainedcrypto.com/mev-lawsuit-against-pump-fun-solana-heats-up/","name":"Unchained Crypto: MEV lawsuit against Pump.fun, Solana heats up","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/mev-trading-returns-court-pump-fun-class-action-lawsuit","name":"Cointelegraph: MEV trading returns to court in Pump.fun class action lawsuit","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"In May 2024, a former Pump.fun contractor, Canadian national Jarett Dunn, used privileged 'withdraw authority' access to drain roughly $1.9–2 million in SOL and other assets from the platform, then airdropped portions of the stolen funds to random wallet addresses. Dunn posted about the incident from his own account on May 16, 2024, shortly after the attack. He was later arrested in the UK, held on remand in London after breaching bail conditions, and pleaded guilty in London to fraud by abuse of position and transfer of criminal property. Decrypt reported that a judge at Wood Green Crown Court sentenced Dunn to six years in prison, crediting 154 of the 308 days he had already spent on an electronic tag toward the sentence.","heading":"May 2024 Insider Exploit and Criminal Prosecution of Jarett Dunn","sources":[{"url":"https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2024/05/17/pump-fun-tempeted-by-ex-employee-loss-1-9m-are-user-funds-safe/","name":"The Coin Republic: Pump.fun tempted by ex-employee, loses $1.9M — are user funds safe?","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://crypto.news/pump-fun-exploiter-arrested-allegations-stole-2m/","name":"crypto.news: Pump.fun exploiter arrested, allegations of stealing $2M","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://decrypt.co/352876/former-pump-fun-dev-sentenced-six-years-prison-2-million-solana-fraud","name":"Decrypt: Former Pump.fun dev sentenced six years in prison for $2 million Solana fraud","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://news.shib.io/2025/12/19/pump-fun-ex-dev-jarett-dunn-gets-six-years-for-2m-theft/","name":"news.shib.io: Pump.fun ex-dev Jarett Dunn gets six years for $2M theft","type":"news_article","credibility":3}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"On December 3, 2024, the UK Financial Conduct Authority issued a public warning stating that Pump.fun 'may be providing or promoting financial services or products without our permission' and advised consumers to avoid dealing with the firm. Three days later, Decrypt and ForkLog reported Pump.fun had restricted access for UK users, with the platform's own notice stating it was 'currently unavailable to users in the United Kingdom.' Co-founder Alon Cohen told Decrypt the exclusion was a decision made by Pump.fun itself rather than a direct legal mandate, and that it was intended to be permanent. Cointelegraph noted UK users losing access would also lose recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and reported that some users discussed using VPNs to bypass the restriction.","heading":"UK Financial Conduct Authority Warning and Access Block","sources":[{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/fca-issues-warning-bans-pump-fun-uk","name":"Cointelegraph: FCA issues warning, bans Pump.fun in the UK","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://decrypt.co/295355/solana-pump-fun-bans-uk-users-regulator","name":"Decrypt: Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun bans UK users after regulator warning","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://forklog.com/en/access-to-pump-fun-blocked-for-uk-users/","name":"ForkLog: Access to Pump.fun blocked for UK users","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"Following the roughly $1.4 billion Bybit exchange hack in February 2025, which blockchain-security firms including Arkham Intelligence attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, on-chain investigator ZachXBT reported that a wallet linked to the hackers sent SOL to fund the launch of a memecoin ('QinShihuang') on Pump.fun shortly before the token's issuance, after which trading volume reached roughly $26 million within three hours. Reporting described a laundering pattern in which stolen funds were moved across Ethereum and Solana, converted into and out of Pump.fun-issued meme tokens, and mixed with other transactions to obscure their origin. Bybit publicly thanked Pump.fun and the Solana Foundation for assisting in blocking and removing the token in question. These allegations rest primarily on on-chain analysis by a single researcher (ZachXBT) relayed through secondary press, rather than a confirmed law-enforcement finding, and Pump.fun itself was not accused of facilitating the laundering knowingly.","heading":"Lazarus Group / Bybit Hack Funds Allegedly Laundered via Pump.fun","sources":[{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/bybit-hackers-solana-memecoin-scams-zachxbt","name":"Cointelegraph: Bybit hackers may be behind Solana memecoin scams, ZachXBT","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://scworld.com/brief/stolen-bybit-funds-reportedly-laundered-via-meme-coins","name":"SC World: Stolen Bybit funds reportedly laundered via meme coins","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://forklog.com/en/news/bybit-blocks-meme-token-linked-to-lazarus-group","name":"ForkLog: Bybit blocks meme token linked to Lazarus Group","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"On February 26, 2025, Pump.fun's official X account (@pumpdotfun) was compromised and used to promote a fraudulent 'governance token' called PUMP, which was not an official platform token, along with other scam tokens including one named after the hack itself. The fake PUMP token briefly exceeded a $5 million market capitalization before collapsing. Co-founder Alon Cohen suggested the breach originated 'within X' itself, and on-chain investigator ZachXBT linked the incident to a broader wave of similar account takeovers affecting other crypto projects, suggesting the attacker used social engineering against X/Twitter staff. Reports differed on how quickly Pump.fun regained control of the account, with some outlets reporting same-day recovery and others reporting the team was still working to restore access as of their publication.","heading":"Official X Account Hack and Fake Token Promotion","sources":[{"url":"https://decrypt.co/307857/pump-fun-x-account-hacked-solana-meme-coin","name":"Decrypt: Pump.fun X account hacked to promote fraudulent PUMP Solana meme coin","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/343515/pump-funs-x-account-hacked-to-promote-fraudulent-tokens","name":"The Block: Pump.fun's X account hacked to promote fraudulent tokens","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://forklog.com/en/pump-funs-x-account-hacked-to-promote-fraudulent-tokens/","name":"ForkLog: Pump.fun's X account hacked to promote fraudulent tokens","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"Pump.fun's PUMP token sale ran roughly July 12–15, 2025, offering 150 billion tokens (15% of a 1 trillion total supply) at $0.004 each; CryptoNinjas reported the overall token sale, combining public and private tranches, at approximately $1.32 billion. The Block reported the public ICO portion raised approximately $500 million, while other coverage cited an additional roughly $720 million private sale. The token debuted around $0.0056 — about 40% above its sale price — but fell within a day to roughly $0.0055, and Unchained Crypto reported that private-sale investors moved roughly $160 million of PUMP to exchanges shortly after launch, pushing the price below its ICO level. Cointelegraph reported a roughly 20% single-day price decline tied to ICO participants selling. BitMEX Research data cited in later coverage found a majority of ICO-allocated wallets had already sold or transferred tokens to exchanges. By December 2025, PUMP had fallen to roughly $0.0017, well below its $0.004 sale price, and by June 2026 it had set a new record low near $0.00135 amid broader platform controversy, down roughly 84% from its September 2025 peak, despite the company directing trading-fee revenue toward token buybacks.","heading":"PUMP Token Sale and Post-Launch Performance","sources":[{"url":"https://www.cryptoninjas.net/news/1-32b-token-sale-goes-live-pump-ico-ignites-frenzy-across-major-crypto-exchanges/","name":"CryptoNinjas: $1.32B token sale goes live, PUMP ICO ignites frenzy","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://unchainedcrypto.com/pump-drops-below-ico-price-as-private-sale-investors-send-160-million-to-exchanges/","name":"Unchained Crypto: Pump drops below ICO price as private-sale investors send $160 million to exchanges","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/pump-fun-ico-participants-dump-token-price-drops-20-percent","name":"Cointelegraph: Pump.fun ICO participants dump token, price drops 20 percent","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/363462/pump-token-erases-gains-less-than-a-week-after-initial-coin-offering-amid-rising-share-of-letsbonk-memecoin-generator","name":"The Block: PUMP token erases gains less than a week after ICO amid rising LetsBonk share","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"Pump.fun launched a bounty marketplace called 'GO' around June 4, 2026, allowing users to pay others in crypto to perform tasks, with the company retaining sole authority to accept, reject or cancel listings. Within hours, reporting from The Defiant, BeInCrypto and Unchained Crypto described listings including a bounty exceeding $690,000 tied to self-harm, a roughly $57,000 offer to skydive into a 2026 World Cup match in costume, a bounty to track down and film the family of a convicted killer, and a cash offer for a forehead tattoo, prompting public criticism including from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who referenced proposed legislation to restrict such platforms. Pump.fun had not issued a public moderation policy specific to GO as of the initial coverage. The PUMP token fell to a then-record low of roughly $0.00135 around the time of the controversy.","heading":"GO Bounty Platform: 2026 Content Controversy","sources":[{"url":"https://thedefiant.io/pump-fun-launches-go-bounty-platform-backlash-extreme-listings","name":"The Defiant: Pump.fun launches GO bounty platform, backlash over extreme listings","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://beincrypto.com/pumpfun-go-bounty-platform-backlash/","name":"BeInCrypto: Pump.fun GO bounty platform sparks backlash over extreme crypto payouts","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://unchainedcrypto.com/pump-funs-go-bounty-marketplace-triggers-dystopian-backlash-within-days-of-launch-unchained/","name":"Unchained Crypto: Pump.fun's GO bounty marketplace triggers 'dystopian' backlash within days of launch","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"On or around September 10, 2026, Pump.fun's iOS app was removed from the US and India Apple App Store listings, one day after the company launched 'Custom Pairs,' a feature letting users create memecoins quoted against tokenized stocks. Moneycheck and Protos reported Pump.fun's mobile lead stated on X that the removal was temporary and that existing users and funds were unaffected, with the app remaining available on Google Play. Apple did not publicly state a reason for the removal, and coverage disagreed on whether the action reflected a regulatory concern (particularly regarding India) or an Apple App Store policy issue; no regulator had announced a formal action at the time of reporting. The token's price fell roughly 12% the same day according to CoinCentral.","heading":"Apple App Store Delisting (September 2026)","sources":[{"url":"https://moneycheck.com/pump-fun-pump-token-plunges-12-as-ios-app-gets-removed-from-app-stores/","name":"Moneycheck: Pump (PUMP) token plunges 12% as iOS app gets removed from app stores","type":"news_article","credibility":3},{"url":"https://protos.com/one-day-after-launching-stock-pairs-apple-delists-pump-fun-app/","name":"Protos: One day after launching stock pairs, Apple delists Pump Fun app","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://coincentral.com/pump-fun-pump-price-app-delisted-from-ios-stores-as-token-loses-12-in-a-day","name":"CoinCentral: Pump.fun (PUMP) price — app delisted from iOS stores as token loses 12% in a day","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"On February 27, 2025, the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issued a staff statement describing most meme coins as akin to collectibles that generally fall outside the federal securities law definition of a security under the Howey test, meaning they generally do not require SEC registration and federal securities-law investor protections generally do not apply to them. Law-firm summaries note this is non-binding staff guidance, not a Commission rule, does not cover tokens marketed as meme coins to evade registration requirements, and does not shield fraud claims from other federal or state law. This statement is relevant context for, but does not resolve, the pending securities claims against Baton Corporation, since plaintiffs allege Pump.fun's tokens and platform practices differ from an ordinary meme-coin offering.","heading":"Regulatory Context: SEC Staff Statement on Meme Coins","sources":[{"url":"https://www.fintechanddigitalassets.com/2025/03/sec-staff-clarifies-that-meme-coins-are-not-securities/","name":"Fintech and Digital Assets: SEC staff clarifies that meme coins are not securities","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.ledgerinsights.com/sec-meme-coins-are-not-securities-musk-theyre-like-a-casino/","name":"Ledger Insights: SEC — meme coins are not securities, musk, they're like a casino","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"low"},{"content":"Pump.fun dominated the Solana memecoin-launchpad market through most of 2024 and early 2025, but competitors eroded its position during 2025. The Block reported that rival launchpad LetsBonk overtook Pump.fun in daily token launches, graduations and trading volume by early July 2025, with one estimate putting LetsBonk's share near 50% versus roughly 41% for Pump.fun, following Raydium's launch of its own competing product, LaunchLab. DL News and The Block reported Pump.fun's revenue fell to multi-month lows around the same period as its revenue share reportedly dropped sharply from a prior majority position. Pump.fun subsequently launched its own PumpSwap AMM and, per Tokenomist research, began regaining some market share later in 2025 as rivals' growth slowed, though investor confidence in the sector remained low heading into the PUMP token's volatile 2025–2026 trading history.","heading":"Competitive Landscape","sources":[{"url":"https://theblock.co/post/361189/letsbonk-dethrones-pump-fun-with-higher-daily-memecoin-volume-token-launches","name":"The Block: LetsBonk dethrones Pump.fun with higher daily memecoin volume, token launches","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/defi/pumpfun-revenue-falls-to-10-month-low","name":"DL News: Pump.fun revenue falls to 10-month low","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://tokenomist.ai/research/will-pump-fun-reclaim-the-throne","name":"Tokenomist: Will Pump.fun reclaim the throne?","type":"research","credibility":2}],"severity":"low"}],"timeline":[{"date":"2024-01","event":"Pump.fun launches as a Solana memecoin creation and trading platform using a bonding-curve mechanism.","source":"ForkLog anniversary coverage","source_url":"https://forklog.com/en/?p=20482"},{"date":"2024-05-16","event":"Former contractor Jarett Dunn allegedly exploits privileged withdraw-authority access to steal roughly $2 million from Pump.fun and airdrops funds to random wallets.","source":"Decrypt / The Coin Republic","source_url":"https://decrypt.co/352876/former-pump-fun-dev-sentenced-six-years-prison-2-million-solana-fraud","date_evidence":"He posted about the incident from his own account dated 'May 16, 2024,' within minutes of the attack."},{"date":"2024-11","event":"Reports of simulated self-harm and animal-cruelty content on Pump.fun livestreams lead the company to suspend the livestream feature indefinitely.","source":"Decrypt / Blockhead","source_url":"https://decrypt.co/293365/animal-cruelty-self-harm-livestream-allegations-the-dark-side-of-pump-fun"},{"date":"2024-12","event":"UK Financial 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account is hacked and used to promote a fraudulent governance token and other scam tokens.","source":"Decrypt","source_url":"https://decrypt.co/307857/pump-fun-x-account-hacked-solana-meme-coin","date_original":"2025-02-26"},{"date":"2025-02","event":"On-chain investigators allege funds from the roughly $1.4 billion Bybit hack, attributed to the Lazarus Group, were laundered in part through a memecoin issued on Pump.fun.","source":"Cointelegraph","source_url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/bybit-hackers-solana-memecoin-scams-zachxbt"},{"date":"2025-02","event":"SEC Division of Corporation Finance issues staff statement saying most meme coins are generally not securities.","source":"Fintech and Digital Assets","source_url":"https://www.fintechanddigitalassets.com/2025/03/sec-staff-clarifies-that-meme-coins-are-not-securities/","date_original":"2025-02-27"},{"date":"2025-03","event":"Pump.fun launches its own decentralized exchange, PumpSwap, ending reliance on Raydium for 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