The story of Peanut the squirrel has once again stirred up the online community. On the morning of December 16, 2024, Mark Longo—the owner of the famous Peanut (controversially euthanized by U.S. authorities in October)—submitted a legal warning to Binance. The reason stems from Binance listing the memecoin PNUT, which allegedly violated intellectual property rights by using Peanut’s image and brand without permission.
According to the warning, Mark Longo pointed out that Binance had unilaterally used the “Peanut the Squirrel” brand, “PNUT,” and an image of the squirrel wearing a hat taken from Peanut’s Instagram account. He demanded Binance cease all violations and contact him by December 31 to negotiate a resolution. Longo stated that he had trademarked Peanut since 2017 and believed that U.S. Copyright Law would protect his legitimate rights.
Moreover, Mark Longo plans to issue similar warnings to other exchanges listing PNUT, such as OKX, Bitget, HTX, Gate.io, and Bybit. However, the crypto community remains skeptical of Longo’s motives. Many speculate that this is merely a tactic to pressure Binance for financial gain, especially since Longo recently launched his own memecoin, JUSTICE FOR PEANUT (JFP)—a failed project now with a market cap of only $3 million.
Related: 10 Memecoins with the Most Impressive Gains in 2024
This case echoes a similar dispute in late November when the creator of the viral TikTok meme, Chill Guy, threatened legal action over copyright infringement for the CHILLGUY memecoin.
Interestingly, despite these developments, the price of PNUT has remained stable at around $1.1, with a total market capitalization of $1.1 billion.
