Its collection of NFTs, launched in 2021, promised its holders to earn Zoo cryptocurrency by breeding hybrid animals.
Another scam in the world of NFTs (non-fungible tokens)? This time it is on the initiative of the 23 million subscribed youtuber Logan Paul, infamous for having staged himself in the “forest of suicides” in Japan a few years ago. Despite the controversy created around his video, the 27-year-old still has millions of views on every post. He also takes the opportunity to launch projects for his community.
“The rarer your pet, the more it pays”
His latest idea? Connecting NFTs, cryptocurrencies and the animal world. Riding the NFT boom in 2021, Logan Paul has launched his own collection of NFTs, dubbed CryptoZoowith tokens represented by hybrid animal eggs.
“CryptoZoo is an autonomous ecosystem where users can buy, sell and trade NFTs of exotic hybrid animals. Hybrids are classified by rarity, the rarer your animal, the more it earns!” reads the OpenSea platform where they are for sale NFTs.
As a reminder, an NFT (“non-fungible token”) it is a digital security, issued by a blockchain (mainly Ethereum), and associated with a digital asset (photo, video, etc.). Each NFT is unique and cannot be reproduced. NFTs are used in art, the luxury sector or for trading cards in sports.
The project has made big promises to holders of these popular NFTs, such as offering to participate in a “viral, fun and addictive game that provides real value.” You understand: this makes you money.
“Thousands of Dollars”
Users will be able to “harvest and breed exotic hybrid animals earning zoo cryptocurrency on the blockchain,” the project announced at launch. However, more than a year later, no games have launched, and the project has caused holders of these NFTs to lose more money than to bring them in.
Last month, the project was called a “scam” by Stephen Findeisen, known as Coffeezilla on YouTube.
The latter allegedly “talked to investors around the world who said they had spent hundreds, even thousands of dollars on CryptoZoo NFTs and who were angry with Paul,” reports the BBC.
Following this allegation, Logan Paul said he would “take responsibility, apologize and come up with a plan in the near future.” Despite these good promises, more than 1,350 users have purchased NFTs from this collection, according to data provided on OpenSea.
Many purchases (at around $100) have also been made in the past few days. A CryptoZoo victim group has also been created on Discord, with more than 300 users so far.