A conjugation functor F on a full subcategory of R(V ), the representation category of a multiplicative unitary V, is defined. If V has a conjugate, it is also regular and the domain of F is all R(V ). Examples of selfconjugate multiplicative unitaries are discussed. A coaction of the Hopf C*-algebra associated with V on the Cuntz algebra O d is canonically defined by a unitary object W of R(V ) acting on a d-dimensional Hilbert space. As in the group action case if d= and W belongs to the domain of F, ergodic coactions are often characterized by the absence of finite dimensional subrepresentations of W. Furthermore model actions of compact quantum group duals on C*-algebras are defined.