Kanye West Isn’t Happy About New ‘Coinye’ Digital Currency; Issues A Cease & Desist admin Thursday, January 9, 2014 The Receipt If the whole fashion industry fiasco wasn’t enough, now Kanye West is battling a new industry who refuses to let the man be great on his own. “Coinye”, a digital currency, may not get to turn one dollar if Kanye has his way. According to the NY Post, lawyers of the rapper recently sent a cease and desist letter to the owners of Coinye Co. Inc. They claim that the likeness of the currency name and image used on the logo is “substantially similar” to Kanye’s name. In the letter, they also requested that all websites, social media accounts associated with the currency be deactivated. The world was first introduced to digital currency in 2009 via Bitcoin. Digital currency is an online payment alternative that uses cryptocurrency to control the creation and transfer of money. Users send payments by broadcasting digitally signed messages to the network. Participants known as miners verify, timestamp, and record transactions into a shared public database called the block chain, for which they are rewarded with transaction fees and newly minted bitcoins. (Wikipedia) Although companies such as Virgin Galactic and Reddit approves the use of digital currency on their websites, the usage of it have been relatively small and has shown little growth. The U.S. is one of several countries who allows usage of digital currency. Even though, the FBI shutdown the online operation of Silk Road, an online drug market/grocery store, in 2013. The Feds seized 144,000 bitcoins valuing over $28.5 million from the site. Photo via www.coinyewest.com The developers of “Coinye” has already taken steps to try and stop the cease and desist. They’ve moved their company to India and changed the name from “Coinye West” to “Coinye”. The use of Kanye’s imagery and name is to help the currency become more mainstream, says the web developers.
