On November 27, Binance
announced the listing of MORPHO and CHILLGUY contract trading pairs. The CHILLGUY token is a meme character that has become popular among Gen Z, issued on the Solana chain on October 6. The CHILL GUY meme has been reposted by figures such as the President of El Salvador and Elon Musk, indirectly increasing the token's price volatility, but the original author feels quite uncomfortable with the use of his creation for the issuance of meme coins.
Viral spread on TikTok, Gen Z's 'lying flat' trend boosts Chill Guy topic
According to
reports, Chill Guy was created by American artist Phillip Banks and first appeared on October 4, 2023. The character's image is generally that of an anthropomorphized dog wearing a gray sweater, blue jeans, and red sneakers. The action is like the lyrics of Zhang Ailing's song: hands in pockets, with a calm smile on his face, as if completely unconcerned about the people and things around him.
Chill Guy quickly became popular online, especially on TikTok and Instagram, which are mainly used by Gen Z. Young people love this character who always maintains a Chill attitude. Like
this: "Bio (midterm) exploded, I don't care, because I'm just a chill guy." Searching for the keyword Chill Guy on platforms like Threads can see more related creations.
Perhaps the popularity of this character is also closely related to the sense of powerlessness that young people are facing in society. Like the 2022 Oxford Dictionary's representative word Goblin Mode, which represents the 'lying flat' mode, in Taiwan, Goblin is also a keyword for the younger generation. Many people compare their short and poor selves to goblins, with a height below 170 being a gnome, and a height above 180 being a troll.
This sense of powerlessness is also closely related to the financial nihilism mentioned in Binance's previous research report, and all signs point to young people giving up on their efforts, and just being able to survive is already a struggle.
Non-authorized licensing can still list on Binance, Chill Guy opens a new path for meme coins
The familiar Bitcoin President, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, also
retweeted a post about the Chill Guy meme, and Elon Musk and Azuki founder Zagabond also
mentioned the Chill Guy meme on Twitter.
However, the original author, Phillip Banks,
stated on Twitter that he does not recognize his creation being used for any cryptocurrency-related matters, especially worthless shitcoins. He threatened to take legal action to address the infringement.
But ultimately, Chill Guy was still listed as a contract trading pair on Binance, which is actually unexpected and has deeper implications. Whether it's the Chiikawa meme coin or the Vatican's mascot LUCE, they have all been criticized for non-authorized licensing, and large exchanges dare not take the risk to list them. But this time, the listing of Chill Guy has opened a new window for these non-authorized licensing tokens, and we may continue to observe the collision between copyright and meme coins in the interests of exchanges.
