How IUCN eventually dealt with a scam company called IUCN Coin that was using its name and trademarks
IUCN eventually filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization.
In October 2023, a company called IUCN Coin Ltd announced that it was “Shaping a greener future”. The company put out a press release explaining that,
In a world increasingly conscious of its environmental footprint, the emergence of IUCN Coin marks a significant chapter in the ongoing narrative of sustainability. This innovative project, set to redefine the intersection of cryptocurrency and environmental responsibility, offers individuals and organizations an unprecedented opportunity to invest in a greener future.
IUCN Coin was going to “redefine the intersection of cryptocurrency and environmental responsibility”. And IUCN Coin offered “individuals and organizations an unprecedented opportunity to invest in a greener future”.
IUCN Coin relied on carbon credits to allows buyers of the cryptocurrency “to actively participate in the reduction of carbon emissions”.
And IUCN Coin claimed to be “aligned closely with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)”.
REDD-Monitor wrote to IUCN to ask whether IUCN Coin really had anything to do with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. I also asked what actions IUCN will take my suspicions were true that IUCN Coin had no link whatsoever with IUCN.
IUCN did not reply, so in November 2023, I wrote a post highlighting some of the red flags raised by IUCN Coin Ltd. Needless to say, there were plenty red flags. I also asked whether this was “yet another scam from an industry riddled with scams and frauds?”
“IUCN is aware of this company”
After writing this post, I wrote again to IUCN. This time, I received an answer from IUCN’s press officer:
“I’m currently working on an official response for you but just so you know IUCN is aware of this company.”
When the “official response” from IUCN didn’t arrive, I wrote another post. By this time it was May 2024, and IUCN Coin had added the following statement on its website:
This project does not collaborate with the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
I asked why IUCN’s lawyers appeared unable to do more to stop IUCN Coin.
IUCN’s complaint to WIPO
On 11 April 2025, IUCN filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center). IUCN was represented by Motsnyi IP Group, Serbia. The case was taken out against Mehmet Gümüș, a director of IUCN Coin.
From the WIPO complaint, we know that IUCN sent a cease-and-desist letter to IUCN Coin and received a response “denying any infringement”. In its response, the company offered IUCN 49% of the shares in IUCN Coin Ltd.
IUCN’s complaint was about the domain name <iucncoin.io> — that Mehmet Gümüș had registered with NameCheap, Inc. on 9 April 2023.
The WIPO Center contacted Gümüș on 29 April 2025. Gümüș did not formally reply to IUCN’s complaint. But the following day he sent an email stating that “all systems have closed” and IUCN “can use the address”.
After this email, the proceedings were suspended from 5 May 2025 until 6 June 2025.
On 3 July 2025, the WIPO Center appointed Tobias Malte Müller a lawyer in Bavaria, Germany as the “sole panelist in this matter”.
Müller writes that Gümüș “clearly targets” IUCN “and its IUCN Trademarks and started his project to take advantage of the reputation” of IUCN and its trademarks.
Bad faith
One of the aspects that Müller had to consider was whether IUCN Coin was using the domain name in “bad faith”. One of the ways in which this can be established is whether IUCN Coin used the domain <iucncoin.io> in an intentional attempt “to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to its website or other online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion” with IUCN’s trademark “as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of its website or location or of a product or service on its website or location”.
Here’s a screenshot from IUCN Coin’s website:
Müller notes that on its website, IUCN Coin “falsely purports — amongst others — to create projects ‘in cooperation with IUCN’”. The website also included an embedded IUCN YouTube video.
Müller writes that he is convinced that Gümüș knew IUCN’s trademark and that Gümüș knew that the disputed domain <iucncoin.io> included IUCN’s trademark when the domain was registered.
Müller concludes that the domain name was registered and used in bad faith. He therefore decided that the disputed domain name <iucncoin.io> should be transferred to IUCN.
IUCN Coin’s website is no longer available. The company’s Twitter account has been suspended. Its Instagram account has gone. Another domain <iucncoin.com> has been deleted. An archived copy reveals that this was pretty much identical to <iucncoin.io>.
Perhaps surprisingly, on his LinkedIn page, Mehmet Gümüș still describes himself as a software specialist at IUCN Coin:
And Ahmet Demir still lists himself as IUCN Coin’s CEO:
Demir also claims to have been working, since 2022, as an “environmental engineer” at a well-known conservation organisation:
Demir actually is still CEO at IUCN Coin. The company was incorporated in the UK on 7 November 2022 and it has not (yet) been dissolved. However, under new UK legislation company directors are required to provide identity verification to prove that they are who they claim to be. IUCN Coin’s directors were required to provide identity verification by 20 November 2025.
On 6 November 2024, IUCN Coin filed a Confirmation Statement with Companies House that includes the following statement: “The company confirms that its intended future activities are lawful.”
This year’s Confirmation Statement was due on 20 November 2025 and has not yet been filed.