Kanye West Threatens Legal Action Over Coinye Digital Currency

They think Coinyes are forever.

The founders of a new Kanye West-themed digital currency are defying a legal threat from the famous entertainer and promising to give out thousands of newly minted digital Coinye coins to online users Wednesday.

Users who receive the new Coinye coins can take them directly to the new Coinye Casino to play some classic European roulette or hoard them hoping they catch on and grow in value.

The coders reportedly plan to release the coins in blocks of 666,666 – a nod to West’s rumored affiliation with the illuminati – up to a pre-set maximum.

“We haven't heard from any lawyers yet, but we'd love to give (West’s attorney) some house credit for a few free roulette spins,” one of the programmers behind Coinye Casino told the Daily News in an email Wednesday.

The programmer, who used the name Jonny Bravo, said the CoinyeCasino.com team is prepping even more games for Coinye users after the site opened for “real play” early Wednesday.

It was Monday that West’s Manhattan-based lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter to the anonymous coders behind Coinye claiming copyright infringement.

The logo for the humorous new cryptocurrency features a cartoon version of West with his trademark slatted shades.




“Given Mr. West’s wide-ranging entrepreneurial accomplishments, consumers are likely to mistakenly believe that Mr. West is the source or your services,” lawyer Brad Rose with Pryor Cashman said in the letter obtained by the Wall Street Journal.

“We are just a few guys who want to take cryptocurrency to the mainstream,” the anonymous founders wrote online as they moved their launch date to Tuesday night from later in the month.

“We would like to make it clear that we are entirely independent of (West), and there should be no confusion as to the intent or origin of this project,” they said. “The name ‘Coinye’ is intended solely as parody, not an indication or implication of endorsement or involvement.”

Cryptocurrency is invisible money released from a network that’s preprogrammed with a certain number of coins distributed over time to users who unlock them, often times by solving complex math problems.

The coins are an invention of the network founders, and they derive any potential street value from their popularity and scarcity.

Bitcoins have been around for years and become so popular they’ve attained street value in this manner.

Some supporters say the point of cryptocurrency is to create an international system free from government regulation that acts as a cheap, egalitarian version of mainstream banking services such as Western Union.

Attempts to reach West’s lawyer and the Coinye coders were not immediately successful Wednesday.



SOURCE