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Logan Paul's CryptoZoo project controversy: Why is the entire team being sued?

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Logan Paul

The controversy surrounding YouTube celebrity Logan Paul's NFT project CryptoZoo continues to escalate, with almost all members of the project team facing lawsuits. Through understanding CryptoZoo, it can be observed that the project's roadmap and promises, heavily promoted by the team, often have significant disparities from reality. Moreover, projects associated with celebrities in the cryptocurrency space, as of now, tend to serve as warning signs of financial loss before cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream.

CryptoZoo

CryptoZoo is a blockchain-based gaming project led by Logan Paul. According to his interview with Forbes in 2021, he fully immersed himself in CryptoZoo after his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather that year.

He mentioned that CryptoZoo initially sold 10,000 "Base Eggs," which are basic pets that users can merge and hatch to evolve into rarer pets. Depending on the rarity, users can earn ZOO tokens.

ZOO tokens are temporarily locked in the NFT until the pet is released and destroyed, allowing users to retrieve the ZOO tokens. ZOO tokens can be used to purchase new pet eggs, and holders can also earn fees for cross-chain transfers.

Logan Paul described CryptoZoo as the next Pokémon.

Youtuber "Coffeezilla" Exposes Scam

Stephen Findeisen, known as Coffeezilla, released three consecutive videos on his channel accusing Logan Paul's project of being a scam.

Coffeezilla alleges that CryptoZoo is a scam, with Logan Paul leading the marketing by exaggerating the benefits of buying CryptoZoo NFTs and later refusing to pay the project developers, ultimately leading to the project's failure and significant losses for investors.

The CryptoZoo website indicates an indefinite suspension of the project.

Logan Paul Sues Coffeezilla

On 1/4, Logan Paul publicly responded, preparing to sue Coffeezilla for false reporting.

He attributes CryptoZoo's failure to hiring the wrong team and emphasizes his efforts to salvage the project, acknowledging personal financial losses.

Logan Paul Apologizes

Within days, Logan Paul backtracked, offering an apology to Coffeezilla, stating he would not pursue legal action and thanking him for his investigation. He emphasized not profiting or selling any tokens, claiming that suing Coffeezilla would not benefit token holders and that the focus should be on users.

He proposed three compensation plans:

  1. Destroying ZOO tokens held by himself and the team to increase token value for holders.

  2. Refunding users, personally providing 1,000 ETH to reimburse the initial 0.1 ETH minting fee.

  3. Hoping to eventually launch the most complete CryptoZoo.

Latest Development: Logan Paul Faces Lawsuit

In a new class-action lawsuit, both CryptoZoo and Logan Paul are named as defendants. The plaintiff, Don Holland, representing his son, is a Texas police officer. According to legal documents, he is suing almost the entire CryptoZoo team:

  • Founder Logan Paul

  • Co-founder Jeffrey Levin

  • Core Developer Eduardo Ibanez

  • Co-founder Jake Greenbaum Crypto King

  • Community Manager Bentov Ben Roth

Don Holland claims his son invested $3,000, and after multiple changes, CryptoZoo suddenly launched. The project team had manipulated the ZOO token price beforehand, accumulating a significant amount of tokens and dumping them after the release to profit massively, which he believes is a Rug Pull incident.

He also notes that Logan Paul's compensation plan excludes users who sold their NFTs.