Meme coins alleged to be securities in two new class actions

On January 16 and January 30, two related class actions were filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Baton Corporation LTD (Pump.Fun) and its founders. The complaints allege that Pump.Fun promoted and sold unregistered securities in the form of meme coins created and sold on its platform.

Pump.Fun is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform on Solana for the creation and sale of cryptocurrency meme coins. According to the complaints, creators can use the Pump.Fun platform to create and sell new meme coins to buyers on the platform. Each coin is associated with an image and short, meme-like description, and many have no utility or function besides association with a meme. Most coins have little sales or trading volume or value, but some have generated significant revenue for creators.

The complaints allege that Pump.Fun and its founders promoted and sold unregistered securities through the platform, and that Pump.Fun’s unregistered, sale, promotion, or solicitation renders Pump.Fun liable as a statutory seller under the Securities Act. See Carnahan v. Baton Corporation Ltd d/b/a Pump.Fun, et al., No. 1:25-cv-00490, and Aguilar v. Baton Corporation Ltd d/b/a Pump.Fun, et al., No. 1:25-cv-00880. The complaints further allege that Pump.Fun made nearly $500 million in fees from helping users generate and sell the coins. The plaintiffs claim to have suffered financial losses due to these meme coins and seek to represent a nationwide class of Pump.Fun meme coin purchasers.