{"id":66379,"date":"2024-01-05T00:41:56","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T00:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/05\/logan-paul-promises-cryptozoo-refunds-as-long-as-you-dont-sue-him-techcrunch\/"},"modified":"2024-01-05T00:41:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T00:41:56","slug":"logan-paul-promises-cryptozoo-refunds-as-long-as-you-dont-sue-him-techcrunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/05\/logan-paul-promises-cryptozoo-refunds-as-long-as-you-dont-sue-him-techcrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Logan Paul promises CryptoZoo refunds, as long as you don&#8217;t sue him | TechCrunch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\">Logan Paul is offering refunds for CryptoZoo, the failed and allegedly fraudulent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/tomwarren\/logan-paul-cryptozoo-class-action-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pok\u00e9mon-inspired NFT game<\/a> that he launched in 2021. The catch? You can\u2019t sue him if you get a refund.<\/p>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LoganPaul\/status\/1742965334645276708\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X (formerly Twitter) post<\/a> on Thursday, Paul announced that he is \u201cpersonally committing\u201d more than $2.3 million to buy back NFTs purchased through CryptoZoo. Claims can be <a href=\"https:\/\/etotbjdn3ex.typeform.com\/EggNFTBuyBack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">submitted online<\/a> until February 8.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never made a single penny from the project, period. In fact, the opposite is true, because I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to make it happen,\u201d Paul said in his post. \u201cLike you, I was highly disappointed that the game was not delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claimants will receive 0.1 ETH per eligible NFT \u2014 known as \u201cBase Eggs\u201d and \u201cBase Animals.\u201d Players were supposed to be able to \u201cbreed\u201d the animals that \u201chatched\u201d from the base NFT that they purchased, which would create \u201chybrid\u201d animals that were also NFTs. Hybrid animals are not eligible for the buy-back program.<\/p>\n<p>The form\u2019s terms and conditions also note that any submitted NFTs that Paul \u201cin his sole discretion deems ineligible\u201d will not be returned. To be eligible for a refund, claimants also have to agree to waive any \u201cactual or anticipated claims against Paul\u201d \u2014 which means promising not to take legal action against him in relation to CryptoZoo.<\/p>\n<p>The influencer, who faces a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/tomwarren\/logan-paul-cryptozoo-class-action-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">class action lawsuit<\/a> for allegedly making millions of dollars of cryptocurrency by promoting a game that ultimately didn\u2019t exist, also filed a cross-claim. In an <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LoganPaul\/status\/1742965334645276708\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X post<\/a>, he said that he \u201cfiled a lawsuit in federal court in Texas to hold these bad actors accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis lawsuit is the result of an exhaustive investigation that included the review of the entirety of conversations and tracking nefarious trading activity related to the project,\u201d Paul continued in his X post. \u201cNefarious trading activity taken behind our backs, without our knowledge, and with the intention of defrauding us all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rob Freund, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who represents brands and creators, told TechCrunch that the buy-back program could be Paul\u2019s attempt at minimizing damages. Class action lawsuits can be \u201cdevastating\u201d for defendants, as damages can include what the plaintiff and class members initially lost, in addition to punitive damages and attorney\u2019s fees. Freund suggested that by refunding NFTs in exchange for waiving claims against him, Paul can individually settle with class members, effectively minimizing the potential damages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPaul may be betting (or at least hoping) that enough people who would otherwise be potential class members will take him up on this offer and drastically reduce his potential exposure in the pending case by doing so,\u201d Freund said. \u201cThat would let him angle for a much more favorable settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed breakout embed-oembed embed--twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Logan Paul is being sued in a class action about the CryptoZoo NFT disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Today, he filed an Answer &amp; Cross-Claim in that same case (which he&#8217;s calling &#8220;a lawsuit in federal court in Texas to hold these bad actors accountable&#8221;).<\/p>\n<p>The Egg buyback may be a strategy to take some\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uTQ15vFKW4\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/uTQ15vFKW4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rob Freund (@RobertFreundLaw) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertFreundLaw\/status\/1742973283652493756?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 4, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>Paul described the NFT project as a \u201creally fun game that makes you money\u201d when he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rqrH7TbruZA&amp;t=353s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced it<\/a> during an August 2021 episode of his podcast, \u201cImpaulsive.\u201d CryptoZoo was marketed as a collecting game using Ethereum \u2014 each NFT was an egg that was supposed to hatch into an animal that was assigned one of five levels of rarity. Those animals could be bred to produce hybrid animals, which also varied in rarity. Every time an egg hatched, it was supposed to yield a certain amount of $ZOO tokens, which were determined by the animal\u2019s rarity. Players were supposed to be able to either buy more eggs or cash out each time an animal hatched.<\/p>\n<p>Paul also promised that CryptoZoo would include interactive minigames and that the project would eventually <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptozoo-1.gitbook.io\/cryptozoo\/roadmap-and-completed-milestones\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201center the metaverse.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=386p68_lDHA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">three-part investigation<\/a> by independent YouTube reporter Coffeezilla documented how the project unraveled; the game was never finished because developers quit due to nonpayment, Paul and his associates allegedly planned to engage in market manipulation and players couldn\u2019t breed their hatched eggs or cash out.<\/p>\n<p>Coffeezilla <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/2023\/01\/logan-paul-cryptozoo-scam-coffeezilla-allegations-explained.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> that two anonymous accounts received payouts from the project \u2014 one received $364,000 (92.7697 ETH) and the other received $1 million (260.000 ETH). At the time of Coffeezilla\u2019s reporting, CryptoZoo held approximately $79,875,629, or 1,214,225,001.8 $ZOO for \u201cwildlife charities and CryptoZoo development.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/youtube-logan-paul-coffeezilla-cryptozoo-scam-1849965572\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">now-deleted response videos<\/a>, Paul accused another CryptoZoo developer of scamming him and the rest of the team, but later told fans on Discord that he would be \u201ctaking accountability.\u201d He <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LoganPaul\/status\/1613961266984255515\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">then outlined a plan<\/a> to pay back investors and finish the game.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.txwd.1205016\/gov.uscourts.txwd.1205016.1.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">class action lawsuit filed last year<\/a> in the Western District of Texas alleges that Paul and other CryptoZoo associates promoted the project to \u201cconsumers unfamiliar with digital currency products,\u201d and that they \u201cmanipulated the digital currency market for Zoo Tokens to their advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1bu0WMbW3co-HlXq-HlXbLdpAOZSzJKmf\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">answer and cross claim filed on Thursday<\/a>, Paul alleged that Jake Greenbaum and Eduardo Ibanez, who worked on CryptoZoo and were also named in the class action lawsuit, were \u201ccon artists\u201d who \u201csabotaged\u201d the project. Paul also claimed while he lost \u201chundreds of thousands of dollars due to the duplicity and deceit of those he trusted,\u201d Greenbaum and Ibanez pocketed \u201cmillions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>CryptoZoo, however, is dead. Paul posted that after \u201cpersonally\u201d spending $400,000 to complete it early last year, releasing it was unfeasible. He also reminded followers that the Zoo Token was created to support the game, and was never intended as an \u201cinvestment vehicle,\u201d so the buy-back is not intended to \u201ccompensate those who gambled on the crypto market and lost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, there are too many regulatory hurdles that would need to be cleared that I did not originally understand and would ultimately delay this buy-back even further,\u201d he said. \u201cThis buy-back is a way for me to make whole those who intended to play CryptoZoo.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2024\/01\/04\/logan-paul-cryptozoo-nft-buy-back-class-action-lawsuit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Logan Paul is offering refunds for CryptoZoo, the failed and allegedly fraudulent Pok\u00e9mon-inspired NFT game that he launched in 2021. The catch? You can\u2019t sue him if you get a refund. In an X (formerly Twitter) post on Thursday, Paul announced that he is \u201cpersonally committing\u201d more than $2.3 million to buy back NFTs purchased [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-66379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}