A token called CHILLGUY, inspired by a TikTok meme, has surged about 6,000 times in value since it started trading last weekend, reaching a market capitalization of $500 million at one point.
The meteoric rise of the CHILLGUY token is related to the recent popularity of a character called "Chill guy" on the social media platform TikTok. The character was originally created by digital artist Phillip Banks in October 2023, and Banks described it as "a cool, calm, and collected guy" who is indifferent to the surrounding events.
Although the Chill guy character was created more than a year ago, its popularity has recently skyrocketed. On TikTok, there are thousands of videos using the Chill guy image to depict a calm demeanor in various situations. However, it's important to note that the CHILLGUY meme token has no connection to the creator of Chill guy, Phillip Banks.
According to data from Gecko Terminal, the CHILLGUY token was created two months ago through the Solana ecosystem meme token platform Pump.fun, and it currently has over 106,000 holders. Based on data from Bubblemaps, the distribution among holders is relatively even, with the largest holder owning only 1.24% of the total supply. As of the time of writing, the CHILLGUY trading price is $0.31.
The CHILLGUY surge has also resulted in significant profits for some traders. According to reports from the on-chain data analysis platform Lookonchain, a wallet address starting with "8WXKc" spent $21,000 to purchase 26 million CHILLGUY tokens, later selling 23.8 million for $2.24 million, while still holding 225 CHILLGUY (worth $45.9k), resulting in a total gain of around $2.68 million in just four days.
Creator Expresses Dissatisfaction
Phillip Banks, the creator of the Chill guy character, stated on social media that he has been receiving messages and harassment from some members of the cryptocurrency community, and said: "I neither endorse nor consent to my art being used for anything related to cryptocurrencies, please do not bother me further."
Banks also announced today that he plans to take action against unauthorized commercial use:
"Just letting you all know, chill guy has been copyrighted, so it's legally protected. I'll be issuing takedown notices for anything profit-related in the next few days. As for those brand accounts using it as a trend (I just hope they credit me or send me an Xbox), the main targets are the unauthorized merch and shitcoins."
After Banks' statement, the CHILLGUY token price dropped nearly 40% in a short period, but later rebounded to around $0.35. A suspected CHILLGUY token issuer account on X, "just a chill guy cto", later announced the establishment of a donation wallet and expressed a willingness to donate to Phillip Banks. As of the time of writing, Banks has not responded.
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