Renowned artist and creator of the Pepe the Frog meme, Matt Furie, revealed during a recent Twitter Spaces chat that he was unaware of the trending cryptocurrency PEPE coin and its association with his work.
During a recent Twitter chat about his new NFT art collection, Zogs, Matt Furie, the creator of the iconic Pepe meme, admitted to not knowing about Pepecoin but shared that he’s a Dogecoin enthusiast instead.
Pepecoin’s popularity skyrocketed with a 5,000,000% increase in value, creating instant millionaires in the recent memecoin craze. However, a 55% drop from its Friday peak of $0.0000042 has analysts speculating that early adopters are cashing out.
Pepe Creator Furie could Seek Pepecoin Compensation
Matt Furie’s reaction to Pepecoin is unclear, but he has previously disassociated himself from the popular meme. It remains to be seen if he will take any action regarding its use in the cryptocurrency.
The character Pepe was first introduced in Furie’s comic Boy’s Club and has since been adopted and used as a meme by various political groups, including protesters in Hong Kong and the far-right in the US.
In 2017, Furie decided to kill off his iconic character, Pepe, due to his disappointment that it had been associated with far-right groups. The artist successfully removed Pepe’s images from The Daily Stormer, a far-right website.
The US court awarded Furie a $15,000 settlement in 2019 after he sued Infowars and Alex Jones for using Pepe the Frog in Infowars’ merchandise. The artist stated that he took legal action to prevent his artwork from being utilized in hateful propaganda.
Matt Furie has a track record of preventing the use of Pepe in NFTs. OpenSea removed the Sad Frogs District project after Furie filed a complaint, which had generated a trading volume of $7 million with its 7,000 frog-based profile pictures.
Matt Furie has the right to claim compensation for the commercial use of his work, but he appears to have not taken any legal action against the issuers of Pepecoin. Protos has contacted the memecoin’s team to inquire if they will compensate Furie for the use of his art, and will provide updates if available.
