Trollface Creator says that crypto ‘is taking’ art, regulates legal steps on meme coin of $ 200 million

Maker of the Vintage InternetMeme Trollface told Decrypt That he has ‘no interest’ to get involved in the rising Solana -Meme -Munt based on his creation, because Cryptos’s capitalist nature interferes with artistic expression.

That said, he took out legal steps against token, despite his apparent promotion of a separate troll -token earlier this year … and then on Tuesday again.

Carlos Ramirezknown as Whynne Online, said Decrypt In his first interview in 10 years, he is ‘constantly’ approached with the range of token facilities for trollface-related meme coins, but called it a ‘cursed proposition’ because he could not sell the offer without crashing.

“The money does not mean anything to me if I can’t sell it, but if I sell it, I crash the currency. And to be honest I don’t want to be responsible for the financial downfall of others,” Ramirez said Decrypt.

When Decrypt explained that the troll has earned implementation More than $ 64,000 In Solana -Tokens via the Function Creator Revenue Division on Pump.Fun, Ramirez pushed even further back with the community.

“I would rather never communicate with such people. I know them too well. They are not interested in creating anything of value,” Ramirez told Decrypt. “It is nothing personal. I just want to make art. I am completely for crypto as a technology for financial freedom and getting away from the government’s reach. But the idea of crypto -art reduces the art aspect. Too much profit motif for the expression to be real.”

“I have made it clear many times that I wanted nothing to do with it, and they don’t listen,” he added. “I didn’t ask them to mint, such as 30 different troll tokens on bags. People just want to make money with my name.”

The Troll meme mint has increased more than 1,050% in value in the last two weeks, from a market capitalization of $ 16.12 million to more than $ 184 million. It is now the 32nd largest meme coin in the world, per Coenteckobefore people Mooi Deng” AuraAnd Melania TrumpThe official token.

In his wake, tons of copycat and related tokens have been produced over multiple launch spots, including To failWith which the implementers can share trading costs with a user on X, formerly Twitter.

“If people want to distract people to an address that only I have access, that’s fine,” said Ramirez. “Like, I can’t really stop them. I will take what they throw at me, but if they think it means I owe them something, then they are mistaken.”

In April, when the meme coin came out of nowhere for the first time to touch a market capitalization of $ 42 million, Ramirez tried to jump on the crypto wave. He promotes one Rival Troll -Token On X, branded as the project, supported by the official artist, who achieved a market capitalization of $ 14 million. Those messages have since been deleted and the token faded in darkness.

When Decrypt Asked if that token was due to a hack, Ramirez replied: “You could say that. But I don’t really want to talk about it. I have no relationship with Trollcoin developers.”

Decrypt Then pushed him to answer whether he was or was not hacked. In response, he said, “If I said it was I was, would it matter? People already have their own story. Let them believe what they want. I am not really interested in the rectification of the record.”

“I just am not interested in any form of involvement. At actually every level,” the artist said Decrypt.

Only a day later he promotes another Rival Troll Meme Coin on his social media. This time the token was made via the rising launchpad bags.

Given what he had said in the past, it is likely that he did this because it shared tags -token costs with his X account. Pump.Fun, on the other hand, the platform on which the large token was made, shares trading costs with the token implementation, where the artist would be more directly involved in the project to exchange. Ramirez did not respond DecryptThe request for comments on this.

The post ensured that the sign to a market capitalization of $ 900,000 was before he crashed 97% to $ 27,833, all within an hour.

In his last interview with KotakuRamirez revealed that he registered Trollface in the US Copyright Office In 2011. From that moment on the publication of the article in 2015, he estimated that he earned more than $ 100,000 from license costs, settlements and other payments in connection with Trollface. By 2015, Ramirez said that the checks had begun to be smaller as the hype of the meme died.

“Carlos Ramirez is the owner and maker of Trollface, of publication in 2008, and he continued by submitting an American copyright registration in 2010,” ” Eliana Torrestold an intellectual property lawyer, said Decrypt. “That registration gives him the full series of legal rights of reproduction, licenses and enforcement. And the fact that it went viral does not change.”

“If such a crypto project is used in his branding, token art or marketing without a license, Carlos has a strong basis for claiming copyright,” Torres added. “He can demand Takedowns, sue compensation and request an order. And because the copyright is registered, he can also go after legal compensation and lawyers.”

Despite his legal capacity to print legal action, Ramirez excluded such a scenario Decrypt.

“I’m not going to do anything,” Ramirez said Decrypt. “I do not endorse anything and I will not disturb anything with anything. They can do what they want,” the artist said before they promote the rival meme currency on his social media.

Nirav MurthyCo-founder and co-CEO of IP-oriented blockchain Camp networkattached to Decrypt That the artist could still change his mind and take legal action.

The Troll Meme Coin team did not respond DecryptThe request for comments.

“To be honest, I just don’t care about Trollface,” Ramirez added.

Instead, the artist said that he wants to concentrate on other original characters that he is working on. Trollface was finally brought to a sleepless night while he was at the university, death on MS Paint. But he refused to reveal details about it, for fear that it would be converted into a meme coin.

“I have other original characters and ideas that I would like to bring to life. And I know that if I talk about it so long before I let them go in the wild, they will be beaten as a crypto assets and become cheap before I have something about it,” Ramirez said Decrypt. “So I prefer to remain silent about what I do. It will come out when it is ready.”

That said, he said Decrypt That he is working on a video game and is a while. Ramirez said that the game will fall into a completely new genre and that his name will never be tied to it.

“If it comes out, you don’t know that I had something to do with it. And I intend to keep it as long as possible,” said Ramirez. “I’m not talking about it, but I am sure that one of my friends will eventually spill the beans. It’s not almost ready, so I wouldn’t think too much about it.”