ChillGuy Meme coin down 45% amid IP Rights Violation by team

The Chill Guy meme coin dropped over 45% in just 30 minutes after it was revealed that the project did not own any intellectual property rights over the original Chill Guy meme.

Philip Bankss, the creator of the Chill Guy meme, did not grant licenses and intellectual property rights to the Chill Guy crypto team. This led to Chill Guy’s (CHILLGUY) holders dumping more than 45% of the token within 30 minutes, causing prices to drop from $0.4793 to as low as $0.2637. According to CoinMarketCap, the market cap lost 15% in the last 24 hours, reaching a rest value of $307.89 million. On the other hand, the 207.12% increase in transaction volume also reflects the sales wave of investors.

The ChillGuy meme coin price chart shows a sharp decline, losing over 45% in value in a short period of time, amid controversy over intellectual property rights.

Bankss publicly rejected the project, saying he never gave permission for his artwork to be used in the crypto ecosystem. Instead, he explained that some hackers took over his social media accounts and tried to impersonate him to make easy money from the meme money’s hype, giving the crypto project IP and licensing rights in his name.

The real Philip Bankss posts on tumblr. Philip Bankss states in his tumblr post that most of his social media accounts were hacked.

Launched on November 18th in Solana (SOL), ChillGuy addressed the then-viral ‘Just A ChillGuy’ meme that caught people’s attention on social media. Meme money has become hugely popular, especially among Gen Z viewers, who share the meme with humorous depictions of everyday situations. The project reached an all-time high with a market cap of $561 million on November 27 after its perpetual token contracts were listed on Binance.

Although the coin was quite successful in the beginning, it is currently experiencing serious setbacks. The lack of intellectual property rights, combined with the protest of the founder himself, disappointed many investors and led to a selling frenzy.

Variable area of ​​meme coins

Too often, meme coins are driven by hype, social media manipulations, and glimmers of community sentiment rather than underlying value or utility. For example, Hawk Tuah’s viral popularity sputtered and then crashed as interest waned, leaving many investors holding the bag.

These examples serve to highlight the dangers of the meme money environment, where erratic price movements and controversies like the ChillGuy IP story occur almost regularly.

Alex Beene, an instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, explained in a LinkedIn direct message to crypto.news that meme coins attract investors who might otherwise be hesitant to enter the crypto market. However, meme coins often come with risks, creating mixed perceptions of cryptocurrencies as a whole for people outside the industry.

“Meme coins have attracted a wide range of individuals in past years who were generally not interested in investing in other financial products or services. On the same point, for those who see cryptocurrency like Bitcoin as a true store of value, it’s hard to read headlines about the nonsense in the meme coin ecosystem and not feel like it devalues ​​the broader crypto community. “Simply put, it is a mixed bag of perceptions.”

—Alex Beene