A “Baby Shark” token hyped last week as officially representing the most viewed video on YouTube, slumped 90% after the issuing platform said the company minting the memecoin belatedly realized it didn’t have the authority to do so.
The token tumbled to under 0.064 cents from Tuesday’s 35 cents high on Story Protocol, a layer-1 blockchain specializing in intellectual property, after the brand owner, Seoul-based Pinkfong Co., issued a formal notice on X on Friday saying the token had “no affiliation whatsoever” with the company.
Baby Shark, a two-minute long music cartoon aimed at young children has garnered more than 16 billion individual views since its 2016 launch. The token, which had a peak market cap of $200 million, was issued using IP.World, which said it relied on faulty rights provided by a Pinkfong licensee and said its verification process blocked creator fees from being released.
“We, and the community, had every reason to believe the launch was fully authorized,” IP.World said.
(DEXTools)
In its post, Pingfong said only two assets, a Baby Shark Meme on Solana and Baby Shark Universe Token on BNB Chain, are officially endorsed.
The statement did little to calm traders who had piled in under the impression of the token was an official Pinkfong collaboration, amplified by influencer endorsements and Story Protocol’s own promotional push.
Separately, blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps reported that at least one entity funneled funds through multiple fresh wallets to snipe $10 million worth of supply in the first minute of trading — representing roughly 7% of the token’s supply on its Sept. 23rd issuance.
While IP.World named the licensee, CoinDesk is not doing so as it has been unable to contact the company concerned for comment.