IPX (NAVER(035420) affiliate), formerly Line Friends, promised compensation measures for investors after CRIPCO, its non-fungible token (NFT) issuance partner, abruptly went dark and the NFT project fell apart, but compensation has not been made so far. Victims said they would file a class complaint and stage protests against IPX and CRIPCO.
According to reporting by ChosunBiz on the 12th, the "IPX·CRIPCO victims' emergency countermeasure committee (tentative)," made up of about 40 people, said IPX cut off communication and failed to keep its promise on compensation measures for individual investors who put money into NFTs. They said they would take legal action, including a class complaint, against IPX and CRIPCO.
A committee official said, "Even though numerous individual investors who trusted the IPX brand as a NAVER(035420) affiliate suffered massive financial losses, IPX and CRIPCO are cutting off communication and turning their backs on investor damages," adding, "One investor suffered losses in the 2 billion won range, and total losses for the victims' group are estimated at at least 10 billion won."
The conflict between the victims' group and IPX began when CRIPCO abruptly went dark. On May 29, CRIPCO posted on Social Networking Service X (formerly Twitter) that it would shut down its official Discord channel, the community where it communicated with NFT investors.
After CRIPCO went dark, IPX's NFT prices plunged. According to CoinGecko, a virtual asset market platform, as of midnight that day, the WADESIDE NFT price was 0.06 ether (about 150,000 won), down about 90% from the sale price of 0.34 ether (about 1.5 million won). The OOZ NFT price, which was 0.033 ether (about 85,000 won) in 2024, is now 0 won.
At the time CRIPCO went dark, IPX told ChosunBiz by phone, "As the original owner of the character intellectual property (IP), IPX will work closely with relevant parties and actively cooperate so this matter proceeds responsibly. Guidance for existing CRIPCO asset holders will be provided separately at a later date."
IPX, a NAVER(035420) affiliate, started in 2011 with sticker characters for the mobile messenger LINE and is now an independent digital IP entertainment platform company. The company changed its name from Line Friends to IPX in Mar. 2022. Through CRIPCO, IPX rolled out NFTs such as its characters WADESIDE and OOZ in succession. The two NFTs are Ethereum-based profile picture (PFP) projects.