A class-action lawsuit against the memecoin platform Pump.fun has been revived in a U.S. court, with renewed focus on allegations of maximal extractable value (MEV) trading and its impact on retail investors. A judge has approved an amended complaint that includes new evidence suggesting a coordinated scheme to manipulate token launches on the platform.
The lawsuit, initially filed in January 2025 and significantly expanded in July 2025, targets Pump.fun, Solana Labs, Solana Foundation, Jito Labs, and several executives. Plaintiffs allege that these entities formed a "Pump Enterprise" that profited by giving insiders priority access to tokens before they were available to the general public. This preferential access, facilitated by MEV techniques, allegedly allowed insiders to buy large volumes of tokens at low prices, triggering rapid price increases, which were then followed by crashes as retail investors bought in, only to see the value plummet.
MEV, at the heart of the renewed legal scrutiny, involves reordering transactions within a blockchain block to maximize profit. Plaintiffs claim Pump.fun exploited MEV to enable front-running, where insiders could jump ahead in token launches and secure profitable trades before ordinary users. The lawsuit contends that Pump.fun marketed its token launches as "fair" and "rug-pull proof," while secretly colluding with Solana validators to disadvantage retail investors. Pump.fun charged a 1% platform fee.
The amended complaint incorporates over 5,000 pieces of evidence in the form of internal chat logs submitted by a confidential informant in September 2025. These logs purportedly contain discussions among Pump.fun, Solana Labs, and Jito Labs, clarifying the alleged scheme's management, coordination, and communications.
Plaintiffs seek to represent a class of individuals who purchased tokens through Pump.fun between March 1, 2024, and July 23, 2025, and a subclass of purchasers of twenty specific tokens. The legal claims include violations of the Securities Act of 1933, coordinated fraud and racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, deceptive acts and false advertising under New York's General Business Law, and unjust enrichment. They are seeking compensatory damages, treble damages for RICO violations, rescission of all Pump.fun token transactions, appointment of a federal equity receiver, and permanent injunctions to prevent the defendants from operating similar platforms without proper licenses and compliance controls. Investors are also seeking damages, restitution of fees, and punitive damages.
The lawsuit alleges that Pump.fun's operations constitute an "illegal digital casino". Plaintiffs argue that users wager money on random events (token price movements) without regulatory oversight. Since its launch in January 2024, Pump.fun has generated cumulative fee revenue exceeding $850 million. The platform allows users to create and trade memecoins without identity verification. The complaint states that Pump.fun users purchase tokens expecting their value to increase due to the platform's marketing efforts. The lawsuit also claims that Solana Labs and the Solana Foundation provided the blockchain infrastructure that enabled Pump.fun's business model.
The outcome of this case could have significant implications for the broader cryptocurrency industry, particularly regarding the liability of blockchain infrastructure providers for enabling unregulated financial activity. The court's decision could redefine the legal and regulatory landscape for blockchain ecosystems.
