Infamous YouTuber-turned-WWE fighter Logan Paul has kicked off the NFT buy-back for his failed game CryptoZoo.
Those impacted can submit refund claims online until February 8, and Paul said he was “personally committing” $2.3 million to the scheme. But there’s a catch: if you accept a refund, you waive your right to sue Paul down the track, TechCrunch reported.
Most investors originally bought the NFTs and cryptocurrency for use in the CryptoZoo game, a Pokemon-style creature collector title that Paul announced three years ago, but which was never actually released.
The popular influencer first promised to repay CryptoZoo NFT holders a year ago, but did not start the process until late last week.
“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 tweeted on Thursday.
He went on to clarify that the buy-back was intended to compensate investors who bought CryptoZoo NFTs in 2021, but “was 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,” he tweeted. “It was ‘not intended as an investment vehicle,’ as outlined in the original WhitePaper.”
Each NFT – named “eggs” or “animals” after the proposed game’s theme – was intended for use as collectables that could be bred, traded, and sold in-game while gaining more and more value.
Each egg was originally sold for around 0.1. ETH and is being refunded for that price, according to Paul’s refund site, even though Ethereum’s value has dropped from around $390 for 0.1 ETH in September 2021, to $220 today.
In Thursday’s tweet, Paul said he was disappointed CryptoZoo did not launch, and blamed the failure on “bad actors”.
He said he had “filed a lawsuit in federal court in Texas to hold these bad actors accountable”.
*Note that the portrait image heading this article is AI-generated, based on Logan Paul’s likeness (Polemos/MidJourney)
