Logan Paul will attempt to right the wrongs of a failed cryptocurrency game that eventually led to a class-action lawsuit getting filed against him and his former business partners.
On Thursday, the 28-year-old social influencer, boxer, and WWE superstar announced a new buyback program involving his CryptoZoo game, where users could buy and hatch “egg NFT’s,” which would then reveal an animal that that players could collect. Paul initially pitched CryptoZoo as a “game that earns you money,” but an online investigation revealed numerous issues with the program, which eventually led to a lawsuit being filed in Federal court in Texas.
Paul vowed to “make things right” in a video he initially posted in response to the allegations, and now, just under one year later, he’s launching a buyback program to refund users who were scammed.
“Today, I am incredibly happy to announce that I am delivering on my promise to buy back Base Egg and Base Animal CryptoZoo NFTs for their original purchase price,” Paul wrote on Twitter. “This buy-back program is being carried out at http://EGGNFTBUYBACK.COM. Claims can be submitted through this site through February 8.
“I approached the CryptoZoo project like everything else I am passionate about — with only the best possible intentions and success for everyone who shared our vision. I 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. With this buy-back program, I am personally committing more than $2.3 million to buy back Base Eggs and Base Animals from every person who intended to play CryptoZoo. Like you, I was highly disappointed that the game was not delivered. As I said a year ago, CryptoZoo was derailed by bad actors. Bad actors who did steal money and who betrayed our team while internally sabotaging the game. This has now been confirmed by an extensive investigation that has involved a forensic analysis of blockchain activity and the review of thousands of communications.”
Today, I am incredibly happy to announce that I am delivering on my promise to buy back Base Egg and Base Animal CryptoZoo NFTs for their original purchase price. This buy-back program is being carried out at https://t.co/XIQzLAGKiG. Claims can be submitted through this site… pic.twitter.com/VMPDHvdXkq
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 4, 2024
Because cryptocurrency prices fluctuate and aren’t regulated, Paul’s original plan to repay users through his own crypto investment wouldn’t match what players initially paid to invest in the game. That led to a public outcry about users still losing considerable money on their investments, which obviously led to Paul’s plans for the buyback program at the original prices paid.
As part of his statement, Paul also revealed that he’s filed a separate lawsuit against those former business partners, who he blames for the myriad of issues surrounding the CryptoZoo launch.
The lawsuit was filed in Texas with Paul named as the plaintiff against defendants Eduardo Ibanez and Jake Greenbaum, calling them both “con artists” who “lied about their résumés, knowledge, experience, and intentions.” The lawsuit accuses Ibanez and Greenbaum of “fraud and deceit” and states that Paul never made any profit off the game.
“This lawsuit is not based just on snippets of conversations taken out of context,” Paul said. “This 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. Nefarious trading activity taken behind our backs, without our knowledge, and with the intention of defrauding us all.”
With the buyback program in place, Paul also confirmed that the CryptoZoo game is dead and buried and will not be launched again as he once hoped.
“As far as the game itself, unfortunately it will not be released,” Paul said. “I personally spent $400,000 to have it developed and after its completion in early 2023 & some further diligence, unfortunately, 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.
“This buy-back is a way for me to make whole those who intended to play CryptoZoo. The buy-back is not intended to compensate those who gambled on the crypto market and lost. It’s important to remember that the Zoo Token was created to support the CryptoZoo game and its players; it was “not intended as an investment vehicle,” as outlined in the original WhitePaper. This solution has been anything but simple, so I want to thank everyone for their patience as we figured out the logistics of making sure the first ever NFT buy-back is a smooth process.”
