Fifty-billion-dollar stablecoin firm Circle Internet Group has accused a circle-themed memecoin of “brand infringement,” leading to a modification of its ticker on Solscan.
That’s according to an investor and member of the “Just A Circle ($CRCL)” memecoin community who told Protos, “Is it really necessary for [Circle] to be asserting infringement on a shape, or a stock ticker?”
The token’s ticker on Solscan was changed from CRCL to SPL Token at some point in June. According to the investor, Solscan claimed, “We have received reports that this token uses copyrighted or trademarked material without authorization and is not associated with its rightful owner. Please proceed with caution.”
Solscan then confirmed on July 7 that the change was made following an allegation of “brand infringement” from Circle.
Read more: Circle dragged for dragging feet as DeFi protocol GMX hacked
Solscan said it acknowledged Just A Circle’s emails on the matter, and noted that a report had been filed by Circle and its representatives.
The crypto tracker added that it’s still investigating the matter and noted that the Just A Circle community can file a counter notice.
Circle owns the stablecoin USDC, which has a market cap of $64 billion. Just A Circle’s CRCL reportedly had a market cap of roughly $450,000, and shot up to $15 million after Solscan revealed the complaint.
Its market cap is now just shy of a million dollars.
While Solscan has changed the ticker, CoinGecko hasn’t, opting instead to display a warning that says “Just a Circle Token is not associated with Circle.”
Circle got ticker problems
Circle went public earlier this year on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker “CRCL,” which was also shared by an oil investment firm called Corcel PLC.
As a result, many traders preemptively bought stocks in Corcel PLC on the day of the public listing, causing its price to soar by 16,689%.
Read more: Circle execs and VCs misread the market — it cost them $2B
Thousands of memecoins copy or infringe on other intellectual property rights. In one case, an artist pursued legal means after the “Chill Guy” memecoin based on his work was launched.
As for Circle’s complaint, the Just A Circle investor told Protos, “This seems like a bunch of old TradFi suits dressed up in sheeps’ clothing but trying to stick it to a bunch of crypto enthusiasts trying to have some fun with memes and create a little bit of financial freedom.”
Protos has reached out to Circle Internet Group for comment and will update this piece should we hear anything back.
