Chillguy (CHILLGUY), one of the most talked-about meme tokens recently, experienced a decline after allegations surfaced that its main image was plagiarised.
The token slid from $0.19 to $0.17, continuing its downward trend from mid-December.
As of now, it sits at $0.1786, reflecting a 3.32% drop in the past 24 hours and a 15.99% decrease over the past week, according to CoinMarketCap.
The price drop followed social media posts presenting evidence that the image was copied from a booklet distributed in Thailand.
The original Reddit post featured a single image of the booklet page, but the lack of other supporting details raised doubts about the authenticity of the claim.
Conflicting versions of the pamphlet further fuelled confusion, with some asserting the image was from Thailand and printed eight years ago, while others suggested it was from Vietnam six years ago.
Amidst this controversy, social media has been divided: some amplify the plagiarism claims, while others argue the entire story is a strategy to generate fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) around the token.
Originally attributed to cartoonist Phillip Banks, who had considered legal action to protect his work, the image was widely used on platforms like TikTok and became the face of several meme token collections.
Up to 30 versions of CHILLGUY or similar tokens now exist across Ethereum, Solana, and Base, with the original version at the heart of this ongoing debate.
The allegations of plagiarism surrounding the Chillguy meme have sparked significant debate, with some questioning the validity of the claims. https://www.coinlive.com/news/solana-s-fartcoin-rockets-to-1-billion-market-cap-before-dipping
One theory suggests the character was taken from a Vietnamese leaflet created six years ago.
However, sceptics have pointed out the lack of supporting evidence and proposed that the image might be AI-generated or manipulated.
Phillip Banks addressed these suspicions via an Instagram post, dismissing the plagiarism allegations as based on a fabricated image. https://www.instagram.com/philbbankss/?hl=en
Banks, who typically refrains from engaging with the meme community, refuted the claims on X (formerly known as Twitter) mere hours ago.
His stance has been echoed by some, who dismiss the accusations as unfounded.
Influential accounts within the community further amplified the speculation, while others uncovered evidence suggesting Banks denied all allegations, raising concerns that the image could indeed be AI-generated.
Additionally, some observers questioned the timeline, noting that the booklet in question might not be as old as claimed, potentially printed after the creation of Chillguy.
A reverse image search revealed that Google indexes subreddit ages rather than the actual image, suggesting the image could have been printed more recently than initially thought.
So who is telling the truth?
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