YouTuber Logan Paul has committed more than $2.3m to buy back NFTs from every person who intended to play the NFT game CryptoZoo.
Paul tweeted the news on 4 January, in which he stated that he would buy back Base Eggs and Base Animals from people who wished to play the NFT-based game.
He said: “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.”
Successful claimants will receive 0.1 ETH per eligible Base Eggs and Base Animals NFTs. Players were meant to be able to breed the animals that “hatched” creating hybrid animals, which will not be eligible for compensation.
However, people who played and lost will not be eligible for compensation as Paul said: “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.”
The crypto-based game, which took inspiration from Nintendo’s classic video game Pokemon, was never released. Paul allowed players to buy the game’s NFTs and called CryptoZoo “a really fun game that makes you money” on his podcast ‘Impaulsive’ back in August 2021.
Another Youtuber, Coffeezilla, has published a series of videos investigating Crypto Zoo, which led to a Class Action Lawsuit against Paul that is still ongoing. The buy-back program is thought to be an attempt by Paul to help his case in said lawsuit.
As well as the compensation, the social media influencer and WWE star has opened up a lawsuit against people involved in making the game.
He claims that the individuals in question have stolen and betrayed the team after conducting “ an extensive investigation that has involved a forensic analysis of blockchain activity and the review of thousands of communications”.
Paul tweeted: “With this evidence in mind, today, I have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas to hold these bad actors accountable.
“This lawsuit is not based just on snippets of conversations taken out of context. 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.”
The tweet also confirmed that Crypto Zoo itself will not be published, as Paul commented: “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.”
