ai16z Co-Founder Shaw Says Pump.fun Bytecode Is Publicly Accessible

ai16z co-founder Shaw said Pump.fun’s on-chain bytecode can be retrieved through Solana RPC nodes, defending his reverse-engineering work after the platform’s parent sent him an infringement warning.

Bracket Company Inc., Pump.fun’s parent, sent Shaw a cease-and-desist warning letter alleging infringement on Oct. 29. Brown Rudnick delivered the letter. It concerned Shaw’s effort to rebuild Pump.fun’s contract code, the subject of a prior report on Bracket Company’s demand that he halt the project.

Shaw said he did not obtain Pump.fun’s source code and described his reverse-engineered code as original. He said the work served the public interest rather than seeking profit, and that he would respond to the accusations and remove material that might violate the terms.

Shaw argued that holding funds in closed-source contracts carries high risks. He claimed those contracts were linked to about $40 million in user-fund thefts over the past year and said he would prefer Pump.fun to open-source its contracts for broader review.

Shaw had previously said he had completed 90% of his reverse-engineering work on Pump.fun contracts and expected to finish the rest by Oct. 25, in an earlier update on his project.