The "Baby Shark" token, heavily promoted last week as the official representative of YouTube's most-viewed video, crashed 90% after the issuing platform admitted the memecoin creator lacked proper authorization.
The token plunged from Tuesday's high of 35 cents to under 0.064 cents on Story Protocol, an L1 blockchain for intellectual property, following a formal denial from brand owner Pinkfong Co. The Seoul-based company stated on X that the token had "no affiliation whatsoever" with them.
Baby Shark, a children's music cartoon with over 16 billion views since 2016, saw its token reach a $200 million market cap before the collapse. IP.World, the issuance platform, claimed it relied on incorrect rights from a Pinkfong licensee and blocked creator fee releases during verification.
"We and the community believed the launch was fully authorized," IP.World stated.
Pinkfong confirmed only two officially endorsed assets: a Baby Shark Meme on Solana and Baby Shark Universe Token on BNB Chain.
The clarification failed to reassure traders who invested believing it was an official Pinkfong collaboration, encouraged by influencer promotions and Story Protocol's marketing.
Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps reported one entity used multiple new wallets to acquire $10 million worth of tokens (7% of supply) within the first minute of trading on September 23rd.
While IP.World identified the licensee, CoinDesk has withheld the name pending contact attempts.