A “Baby Shark” token, marketed as officially tied to the YouTube phenomenon, collapsed 90% after the issuing platform disclosed it lacked authorization from the brand owner, Pinkfong Co.
The memecoin fell from a Tuesday high of 35 cents to below 0.064 cents on Story Protocol, a layer-1 blockchain specializing in intellectual property, after Pinkfong, based in Seoul, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the token had “no affiliation whatsoever” with the company.
Baby Shark, a two-minute music video for children launched in 2016, has amassed over 16 billion views. The token, which briefly reached a market capitalization of $200 million, was issued through IP.World. The platform said it relied on rights provided by a Pinkfong licensee, which later proved invalid, preventing creator fees from being released.
“We, and the community, had every reason to believe the launch was fully authorized,” IP.World said. Pinkfong emphasized that only two digital assets—the Baby Shark Meme on Solana and the Baby Shark Universe Token on BNB Chain—are officially endorsed.
The token’s sudden collapse hit traders who had bought in under the impression of an official partnership, fueled by influencer endorsements and Story Protocol’s promotional campaigns.
Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps reported that at least one participant funneled funds through multiple new wallets to capture roughly $10 million worth of tokens in the first minute of trading, representing about 7% of the supply issued on September 23.
While IP.World identified the licensee responsible, CoinDesk has not named the company after unsuccessful contact attempts.
