Just days after Chicago rapper Kanye West dispatched his legal team against the creators of the script-based cryptocurrency Coinye, formerly Coinye West, the altcoinâs development team has officially folded its launch plans.
The announcement was issued via the projectâs website, which posted the message âCOINYE IS DEADâ in bold at the top of its homepage, followed by its admission of defeat: âYou win, Kayne.â The messages ended the short life of Coinye, which was announced early this January and had recently delayed its launch.
Westâs legal team previously sent the Coinye development team a cease-and-desist letter that suggested that the altcoinâs branding, featuring a cartoon image of the rapper, created a likelihood of confusion that would lead buyers to believe West was affiliated with the project.
In response, Coinyeâs team altered its design in homage to the South Park episode âFishsticks,â in which West realizes he is a gay fish. The tongue-in-cheek letter requested that Westâs lawyers stop the âconstant harassment and scare tacticsâ and called into question the applicability of Westâs trademarks in the case.
Still, while the debate amused observers, the currencyâs abrupt decision to close affected some users. Reddit comments suggest that Coinyeâs development team had begun to unload the currency in preparation for the formal shutdown. Further, threads noted that users had difficulty obtaining their coynes in the aftermath of that announcement.
0DayCoins, a cryptocurrency exchange that listed Coinye, moved quickly to apologize for its association with the currency and announce that it, too, is shutting down.
âIf Mr. Kanye West feels offended in any way, we want to express our sincere apology,â a website message read. âIt was never our intention, and so, starting today, we are working on removing any trace of the coin from our platform. We hope this will satisfy Mr. West and resolve this unfortunate matter.â
The website encouraged users to collect their funds from the site immediately, stating that the remaining coynes would âbe sent to random public keys.â
Undeterred, some Reddit and Bitcoin Talk forum users have refused to give up on Coinye, with rumors that a petition would be sent to Cryptsy to list the altcoin.
The Coinye development team has sinced moved to distance itself from these parties, or as they labeled them, the âmorons trying to revive this coin,â suggesting such actions were based solely on cashing in on Coinyeâs notoriety.
Though notable, Coinye is just one in a string of novelty altcoins launched in recent weeks including RonPaulCoin, named after the noted U.S. libertarian-leaning politician, and Dogecoin, an altcoin dedicated to a popular Internet meme.