Like fate or city hall, you just can’t fight Kanye West. The creators of Coinye West learned that lesson today, as the anonymous band of coders have scraped their plans for a Yeezus-inspired cryptocurrency. “Coinye is dead,” reads their otherwise blank website. “You win, Kanye.”
The development ends the sharp and sudden rise of the latest virtual currency inspired by Bitcoin. Last week, a mere seven days after Coinye’s announcement, West’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter, citing gimmick infringement and demanding the service hand over their website and deactivate the Facebook and Twitter accounts for Coinye. In response, the group moved their launch date up several days and changed over to a domain registered in India. “Coinye feelin’ the heat,” they taunted via Twitter, “gonna spread what we got so far before the bigwigs steal our work.”
Backing up their legal threats, West’s attorneys filed an injunction in a New York federal court earlier today (via TMZ). Seeking to shut down the site entirely, in addition to netting an undisclosed percentage of profits, West’s attorney’s wrote, “With each day that passes, (Mr. West’s) reputation is irreparably harmed by the continued use of the Coinye West marks.” While injunctions against anonymous groups are harder to maintain, their claim was further substantiated by adding Amazon.com as a co-defendant. The Internet giant provided web hosting services to the websites behind Coinye.
It seems the ploy worked, as Coinye pulled the plug mere hours after the injunction was filed. Coinye West: 2014-2014.
Now, who’s going to start up DMXDollars or Notorious B.U.C.K.S.?
