Mark Longo, the original owner of Peanut the Squirrel, has escalated his legal battle with Binance following the crypto exchange’s decision to list the PNUT memecoin on November 11. Longo accused Binance of infringing on his intellectual property rights by using an image and name associated with his late pet squirrel, Peanut.
In a cease-and-desist letter addressed to Binance’s legal representative, Sandra Epp Ryan, Longo’s attorney, Sara M. Dorchak, claimed that Binance’s use of Peanut’s image—a photograph of the squirrel wearing a cowboy hat—violates U.S. copyright law. According to Dorchak, the image was taken from Longo’s social media account and is currently pending registration with the United States Copyright Office.
“This is the first of multiple cease-and-desist letters to be issued. I’m committed to protecting my creative work and sending a clear message: unauthorized use of my IP will not be tolerated,”
Longo wrote in a December 15 post on X.
Peanut, whom Longo rescued after a car accident, became popular on an Instagram account featuring him alongside a raccoon named Fred. However, following complaints, New York authorities removed both animals from Longo’s care, and Peanut was subsequently euthanized.
The controversy surrounding the memecoin centres on Longo’s allegations that the PNUT community exploited his rescued pet squirrel’s story without permission, undermining his nonprofit efforts.
On November 25, Longo publicly accused the creators of PNUT of profiting from Peanut’s story and announced plans to reclaim his narrative by launching his own cryptocurrency, the JUSTICE token. The token, titled “JUSTICE (For Pnut and Fred),” has gained traction, surging over 200% after he announced legal action. According to data from DEX Screener, JUSTICE currently has a market cap of $385,000, liquidity of $111,000, and has seen a 32% price increase in the past 24 hours.
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