Investors still waiting on $1.9M refund Logan Paul promised six months ago: CoffeeZilla

July 1, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coffeezilla

Coffezilla asserted that the refund process should be quite easy to sort while the financial implications aren't an issue for someone as wealthy as Logan Paul.

Investors in Logan Paul’s troubled NFT gaming project CryptoZoo are reportedly still waiting for any specific details on the 1000 Ether (ETH) refund (worth $1.93 million at current prices) that was promised back in January.

In a YouTube video posted on June 30, “internet detective” Coffezilla — the person who initially brought the project’s issues to light in December 2022 — asserted that Paul’s communication with the CryptoZoo community has dried up over recent months:

“It’s been six months, so here’s a follow-up. Logan Paul has not paid back his victims, he hasn’t talked about it since he first announced he was gonna pay them back. And what’s worst of all, he doesn’t seem to have a plan in place to refund anyone.”

“How do I know that? Well because I've been asking Logan for that plan to refund people, the entire time, behind the scenes,” he added.

CryptoZoo was launched in September 2021, intending to be a NFT breeding game offering opportunities to earn ZOO tokens and NFTs, with Paul himself describing it as a “really fun game that makes you money.”

However, with lackluster NFT artwork that was seemingly ripped from Adobe Stock images, tanking NFT and ZOO token prices and an apparent failure to deliver on the roadmap, investors became disgruntled by late 2022.

After facing strong backlash from the community following Coffezilla’s series of expose videos on CryptoZoo, Paul ultimately announced a plan to refund investors on January 14, while also vowing to deliver on the project’s roadmap.

This however, didn’t stop CryptoZoo and Paul from being slapped with a class action lawsuit the following month.

My 3-step plan for CryptoZoo, including a $1.3M rewards program for disappointed players.

Thank you, @coffeebreak_YT pic.twitter.com/xFX017UHoc
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 13, 2023

In Coffeezilla’s latest video, he shared screenshots of email communications with Paul’s lawyer Jeffrey Neiman of the MNR law firm, which appear to suggest that a concrete plan has yet to be established.

“We represent Logan Paul. Mr. Paul has informed us of your outreach about the status of the CryptoZoo egg buyback. Mr. Paul remains committed to this process. We are working with Mr. Paul to evaluate the best way to achieve this goal,” the email read.

Coffezilla went on to raise issues with this statement, as he highlighted the simplicity of paying blockchain developers to promptly write the code for the refund process, while also asserting that Paul is clearly wealthy enough to make investors whole.

“So you’re still at the whiteboard then? Guys this is a statement you say when you have no plan, or you’re stalling, [...] I mean that’s where Logan was back in January, he was evaluating.”

“Am I supposed to believe that six months later you guys haven’t figured this out?” he added.

Logan Paul really is the type of dude to thank you when you expose his scam, then block you when you remind him to pay up. pic.twitter.com/wI1o3ilD5S
— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) June 30, 2023

At the time of writing Paul is yet to post a response on YouTube or Twitter.

Magazine: NFT Creator: ‘Holy shit, I’ve seen that!’ — Coldie’s Snoop Dogg, Vitalik and McAfee NFTs

Logan Paul and CryptoZoo hit with lawsuit as investors take action

February 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Case

Plaintiff Don Holland has filed a lawsuit against CryptoZoo and Logan Paul, alleging the YouTube influencer’s “fraudulent venture” executed a “rug pull.”

CryptoZoo and Logan Paul have been named as defendants in a newly filed class-action lawsuit, which alleges they stole millions of dollars worth of purchaser's cryptocurrency via a "fraudulent venture."

In a court filing on Feb. 2 in the District Court of the Western District of Texas, plaintiff Don Holland alleged that Paul and executives at CryptoZoo (CZ) “executed a ‘rug pull’” by promising purchasers of the nonfungible tokens (NFTs) exclusive access to crypto assets among other benefits, but ultimately abandoned the project and kept the funds.

"As part of Defendants’ NFT scheme, Defendants marketed CZ NFTs to purchasers by falsely claiming that, in exchange for transferring cryptocurrency to purchase the CZ NFT, purchasers would later receive benefits, including, among other things, rewards, exclusive access to other cryptocurrency assets, and the support of an online ecosystem to use and market CZ NFTs," it wrote.

We have officially filed a class action lawsuit in the Western District of Texas against Logan Paul et al. for the CryptoZoo fiasco. (This is in addition to the numerous cases heading to arbitration on the matter.) pic.twitter.com/BIC5v63TGZ
— AttorneyTom (@attorney_tom) February 2, 2023

"In reality, soon after completing the sale of all their CZ NFTs, Defendants, together with others [...] transferred millions of dollars’ worth of purchasers’ cryptocurrency to, among other places, wallets controlled by Defendants," it alleged.

The lawsuit was submitted by attorneys from Ellzey & Associates and Attorney Tom and Associates, the latter of which is the law firm run by YouTube personality Attorney Tom.

In a YouTube video on Jan. 16, Attorney Tom told viewers that they are suing Paul over the alleged crypto scam after “weeks of investigation and speaking to a number of Crypto Zoo victims.”

Other defendants named in the suit include Danielle Strobel, Jeff Levin, Eddie Ibanez, Jake Greenbaum (Crypto King) and Ophir Bentov (Ben Roth), according to Attorney Tom.

This lawsuit comes despite Paul unveiling a $1.5 million recovery plan for disgruntled investors in the CryptoZoo project via a video on Twitter on Jan. 13.

He also revealed that he is no longer going to sue CoffeeZilla over his allegations that his project is a scam, stating that suing him is “not going to help Cryptozoo holders,” adding that he wants to focus on “fans and supporters of him.”

Paul outlined his recovery plan will consist of three stages — stating the first stage will be himself and the co-founder of CryptoZoo, Jeff Levin, burning their ZOO token holdings.

He clarified in doing this they will “have no financial upside” in the game, and it will “add value to the holders’ tokens.”

Paul claimed the second stage will involve him personally committing 1,000 Ether (ETH) to the project so that “disappointed” investors can burn their NFTs to get their initial investment of 0.1 ETH back, the cost to mint the NFT.

Meanwhile the third and final stage he hopes to “deliver the game as outlined in the whitepaper.”

Logan Paul unveils $1.3M CryptoZoo recovery plan

January 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Logan Paul unveils .3M CryptoZoo recovery plan

Coffeezilla

As part of the plan, Logan Paul stated that he will commit 1,000 ETH to repay disgruntled investors that want to make an exit via burning their CryptoZOO NFTs.

YouTuber Logan Paul has unveiled a $1.5 million recovery plan for the people who invested in his beleaguered NFT project CryptoZoo.

Announcing the move in a video shared via Twitter on Jan. 13, Paul reiterated that he is no longer looking to sue fellow YouTuber Coffeezilla for defamation over accusations he made in a critical series of videos on Paul’s NFT project.

My 3-step plan for CryptoZoo, including a $1.3M rewards program for disappointed players.

Thank you, @coffeebreak_YT pic.twitter.com/xFX017UHoc
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) January 13, 2023

As such, Paul emphasized that he is instead focused on fixing CryptoZoo, delivering on the roadmap and making things right with fans and investors:

“The fact is, suing Coffeezilla is not going to help Cryptozoo holders so I do need to focus my attention where it should be, which is on fans and supporters of me.”

Paul outlined that his recovery plan consists of three stages. Firstly, he and his manager /CryptoZOO co-founder Jeff Levin will burn their ZOO token holdings so that they “have no financial upside” in the game, and so that the token supposedly has more value.

Secondly, he claimed that he will personally commit 1,000 Ether (ETH) as part of a rewards program that enables “disappointed” investors to burn their NFTs to get the initial 0.1 ETH ($150) mint price back.

*Reaction tweet from @CryptoKingBob: Twitter*

It is worth noting that at the time of Paul’s tweet, 1,000 ETH was worth around $1.3 million, however the price of ETH — among a host of other top assets — has since been on a hefty pump that has seen its price gain 10.2% over the past 24 hours to sit at roughly $1,548.

Finally, Paul noted that the third stage is to “obviously finish and deliver the game as outlined in the whitepaper,” which was initially touted as a play-to-earn game that involved breeding animal NFTs to receive ZOO token rewards.

“To say I am disappointed in how this was handled internally is an understatement, there’s a full internal investigation going on along with an audit and we are going to pursue full legal action for whoever needs to be held accountable.”

“If any money is recovered in the process, it’ll go right to the community,” he added.

The community reaction to Paul’s Twitter post was mixed, with some tipping their hats to Paul’s efforts, while others continued to pile on with further criticism.

Users such as @tharaxis noted that while criticism of Paul and CryptoZOO was valid, “all of this seems very positive and while it took a while this definitely deserves a ‘good job’. Hopefully it stays that way.”

While the founder and CEO of Genius Group Roger Hamilton added: “‘i’m sorry’ and compensation to those who lost money. How great if all CoffeeZilla investigations would end up this way.”

On the other end of the spectrum, popular NFT and crypto trader @crypto_bitlord7 stated: “But let’s be honest. You didn’t care until it started to impact your reputation.”

“You then threatened to sue. And when you realized it backfired, you started this to try to please people. You are as fake as it gets. A true Larp,” they wrote.

He STILL did not take any accountability!

He said “I’m sorry for how things unfolded” he refuses to believe he is at fault.

Additionally, he said “full investigation on WHOEVER is accountable”

And now he is treating coffeezilla like his best friend yet he doesn’t follow him
— Youssof Altoukhi (@Youssofal_) January 13, 2023

Logan Paul backflips on defamation lawsuit against Coffeezilla, apologizes

January 9, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coffeezilla

Logan Paul has deleted his response video aimed at Coffeezilla and has apologized in a surprise u-turn.

YouTuber Logan Paul has deleted a video in which he threatened to sue internet detective Stephen "Coffeezilla" Findeisen over a three-part series that painted Paul’s CryptoZoo project as a "scam."

According to Coffezilla in a Jan. 6 Twitter post, Paul has promised to drop his threats of filing a defamation lawsuit over the videos.

Logan called me. He said he’s deleting the two responses, and is dropping the lawsuit threats.

I believe he’s making a 3rd response, which I’ll be delaying my video to include. Hopefully this time he takes accountability and refunds the victims of CryptoZoo. That’s what matters. https://t.co/ElKX2d9mY0
— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) January 7, 2023

Sharing a screenshot from the CryptoZoo Discord server, Findeisen also showed a message from Paul to user confirming he deleted his initial response to Coffeezilla’s video series and apologized, which read:

“It was rash and misaligned with the trust issue at hand, so I called him today and apologized.”

“The war is not with Coffee. In fact, I’m grateful he brought this to light. I will be taking accountability, apologizing, and coming forward with a plan in the near future,” Paul added.

At the time of writing, Paul’s Jan. 3 response video to Coffeezilla’s accusations has been removed from YouTube. The Twitter post pointing to the video is still up as is his initial Dec. 23 post calling the allegations “Not true."

The two YouTubers began a war of words after Coffeezilla launched the first of a three-part video series on Dec. 17 alleging CryptoZoo of numerous business malpractices while also calling out Paul — the face of the project.

In his now-deleted response video to Coffeezilla, Paul haaccused Coffeezilla of defamation, adding “I’ll see you in court.”

Coffeezilla mentioned in his post that Paul is possibly "making a 3rd response," but at the time of writing neither Paul nor Coffeezilla has shed any further light on the matter.

Cointelegraph reached out to Logan Paul and Stephen "Coffeezilla" Findeisen for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

Nifty News: IHOP bamboozles crypto users with ‘NFT,’ Logan Paul’s NFT falls to $10 and more

October 11, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Nifty News: IHOP bamboozles crypto users with ‘NFT,’ Logan Paul’s NFT falls to and more

Binance

The YouTube star’s huge loss on his NFT has been bumped up by a measly bid after he shared how much it had dropped in value since his purchase last year.

American restaurant chain International House of Pancakes (IHOP) piqued the curiosity of Twitter users last week when it announced it would be “jumping on the bandwagon” and dropping its own ”NFT.” As it has turned out, its new “NFT” is neither nonfungible nor a token.

The pancake chain’s initial announcement on Oct. 6, made to sound like it was entering Web3 with a nonfungible token (NFT) drop, was met with a mixed response.

One Web3 supporter said, ”kudos to IHOP for having the courage to be on the leading edge and innovating for the future,” while others threatened to unfollow the restaurant’s Twitter account.

However, when the food chain finally revealed its “NFT” on Oct. 10, it turned out it was in fact the chain’s “New French Toast” menu item, adding it is “Thick, Fluffy and extremely fungible.“

As promised, we just dropped our #NFT: New French Toast! It’s Thick, Fluffy and extremely fungible. pic.twitter.com/r0sZKeBq0a
— IHOP (@IHOP) October 10, 2022

Twitter users shared a laugh over the chain’s devious ploy to sell more toast, though one Crypto Twitter commented that “they’re missing out on an opportunity to be a part of history” and getting “iHop.eth early.”

Logan Paul’s $600K NFT falls to $10

An NFT purchased for 188 Ether (ETH) at the cost of $623,000 in 2021 by American YouTuber Logan Paul saw a dramatic loss in value to only $10 by the end of September but has since a small price bump after it trended on social media.

Paul’s on-paper loss of over $600,000 on his 0N1 Force K4M-1 #03 NFT has been public knowledge for months, but after the YouTuber shared a post on his Snapchat on Sept. 27 talking about it, several Twitter users picked up the story resulting in more attention for the NFT.

Now, the token has a bid of 1.5 ETH on NFT marketplace OpenSea, around $1,900 at the time of writing.

Paul isn’t the only one feeling the pinch after the crypto market took a sharp fall in May.

NFT trading volume has plunged 98% from the $6.2 billion witnessed around the end of January to $114.4 million today.

Crypto trademark applications rise

Data shared by trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis on Twitter shows so far this year, 4,618 United States trademark applications have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) related to the Metaverse and virtual goods or services, with 367 of those taking place in September.

*Crypto related trademark applications by month. Source: Mike Kondoudis*

Notable filings for the month include the car brand Ford filing 19 trademarks for all its major models of trucks, cars, and vans to be represented in an NFT as virtual vehicles.

Whiskey manufacturer Jack Daniel’s filed a new trademark application on Sept. 19 for NFT-authenticated media, virtual beverages, barware, clothing and digital collectibles.

Media brand Viacom International filed two trademarks for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Sept. 12 to expand the brand into NFT-backed media, crypto collectibles and crypto-collectible transfer software, while Paramount Pictures filed two trademarks for their Mean Girls brand on Sept. 12 for similar applications.

Binance set Guinness World Record for the largest crypto lesson

Crypto exchange Binance teamed up with Mexico-based agency the Talent Network to break a Guinness World Record for the largest cryptocurrency lesson in the world during an Oct. 7 class at Blockchain Land, Nuevo León, Mexico.

While only 289 people attended the 50-minute class held by Binance, it was enough to break the record.

Carolina Carnelli, head of marketing at Binance in Latin America, instructed the attendees on crypto and Web3, how they can contribute to the freedom of money and financial inclusion around the world and the benefits of blockchain.

The lesson also featured a remote presentation from Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder and CEO.

The hybrid event combined in-person and online attendees, but online participants did not count toward the total for the record.

The Talent Network has two previous records already, for the world’s largest robotics class in 2018 and the world's largest software class in 2019.

More Nifty News:

Ethereum blockchain-based metaverse projects Decentraland and Sandbox hit back at reports suggesting low daily user activity on their platforms, claiming the data used was based on a “misinformed” metric.

The anonymous creator of decentralized finance (DeFi) project aggregator DefiLlama, 0xngmi, announced on Twitter that their smart contract code for a novel NFT borrowing and lending protocol dubbed LlamaLend is near completion. The protocol aims to solve the problem of NFT holders needing to obtain liquidity when holding their digital collectibles and primarily targets small collections.

Snoop Dogg, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul, and Beeple Dusted by OFAC-Banned Tornado Cash Transactions

August 9, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Puerto Rico sees resurgence of interest among crypto rich

October 27, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Crypto capital is moving to Puerto Rico as tax regulations are much more favorable than in the U.S. proper.

The United States territory of Puerto Rico is seeing a resurgence of interest among crypto investors attracted by the fact it doesn’t charge federal income tax and eligible investors can pay zero taxes on their crypto gains.

Under local law Act 22, those who live in Puerto Rico for at least half of the year are exempt from taxes on interest, dividends and capital gains — meaning they can keep most or all of the profits from crypto or other investments without having to renounce U.S. residency.

The popularity of the territory as crypto tax haven was highlighted when news stories emerged that Frances Haugen, the Facebooks whistleblower, had moved to Puerto Rico in March. But it's been a haven for crypto people for years, including Bitcoin billionaire Puerto Rico who owns a nine bedroom mansion there.

Logan Paul, the social media personality and Cryptozoo founder, moved to the island earlier this year where he rents out a $55,000 a month mansion. Paul told Time Magazine the island's tax free status was a big part of the appeal:

“In Puerto Rico you’re motivated to do more and make more money because of the implications that come with it.”

Crypto related businesses that have relocated to Puerto Rico in recent years include the hedge fund Pantera Capital from New York and NFT marketplace SuperRare from Silicon Valley. More traditional finance types like legendary hedge fund manager John Paulson have also become residents.

The Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association (PRBTA) recently announced the first edition of the Puerto Rico Blockchain Week for December of 2021, which aims to lure more crypto millionaires and investment into the island.

“We seek to connect entrepreneurs with communities in Puerto Rico and educate them on the multiple benefits available in the crypto era,” stated Keiko Yoshino, Executive Director of PRBTA.

The capital migration that crypto is bringing to Puerto Rico is boosting economic growth but comes with drawbacks for locals. Projects like Puertopia, which is a crypto utopian community in San Juan, are blamed for causing housing prices to soar.

Puerto Rico is not the only location competing for crypto dollars.

Aiming to attract crypto investors and businesses El Salvador also offers major tax breaks on Bitcoin trading with investors exempt from paying capital gains and income tax on Bitcoin.

Other classic tax havens have a cryptocurrency friendly environment including Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Malta. St Kitts and Nevis, which is home to “Bitcoin Jesus” Roger Ver, allows savvy crypto investors to avoid taxes and offers a citizenship by investment program and asset protection advantages for crypto millionaires and businesses.

In Portugal crypto traders and miners are exempt from income tax and in Apri the country approved the Digital Transitional Action Plan which will promote the creation of economical areas dedicated to encourage blockchain-based business.