You’ve probably seen the videos of popular YouTubers like Logan Paul promoting a new cryptocurrency project, NFTs, or a blockchain-based game. They claim that it’s the next big thing and that it’s going to make everyone rich. They encourage their viewers to invest in the project or concept while they still can but are these projects really the next big thing or are they just marketing gimmicks by influencers?
In this article, we will explain CryptoZoo, the much-hyped game by Logan Paul, and see whether it is a scam and how it works. We will also provide some tips on how to avoid crypto investment scams.
Logan Paul, a popular YouTuber, recently was in a tight spot after having promoted CryptoZoo to his millions of followers. Many of his fans who invested in the project lost a lot of money as the game never took off. First introduced on June 18th, 2021 on Logan Paul’s Impaulsive Podcast, Logan claimed to have invested over $1 million into CryptoZoo and had a huge team behind it. But as the “internet detective” Coffeezilla unearthed in a series of explosive YouTube videos, the game never really got completed even months after its launch.
CryptoZoo (CryptoZoo.co) is a game that works on a Play-to-earn basis. This means, you buy $ZOO tokens, which are then used to buy in-game eggs. The egg would later hatch into an animal and the owner can breed the animals to get unique hybrids.
Once here, customers had the opportunity to sell or burn the zoo, to release the animals for the CryptoZoo token which would then be cashed out or used to buy more eggs. The rare the animals, the higher daily yields customers would make. Sounds straightforward and you wonder what would have gone wrong.
To set apart the game from other Play-to-earn games, Logan Paul claimed that they hand-generated the art, while other games use auto-generated artwork. On the first day of the launch, eggs worth $2.5 million were purchased by users. Thanks to Paul’s influence, the $ZOO token reached a $2 billion market value pre-launch with tens of millions of volume in the first weeks.
On CryptoZoo’s launch day, which they called ‘hatch day’, users found that they could not do anything with the eggs. That was in November 2021 and 1 year later, many have still not been able to hatch their eggs. At first, Logan Paul was just quiet about it and even started working on another project one month after launch day.
He would later come out to claim that the lead developer of the CryptoZoo project fled with the code to Switzerland and had been asking for $1 million to release it. According to Coffeezilla, the said developer made the code private simply because he and his team were not paid.
What followed were legal threats and apologies as the saga dragged on. Investors have lost millions of dollars, with one person alone claiming to have lost over $500,000. Logan Paul has come out to say he has a detailed plan to “make things right for disappointed investors” though this largely remains to be seen.
How can people protect themselves from scams like this?
Cryptocurrencies have become a popular medium for scammers. Investors are often lured by the promise of high returns with little risk. However, these schemes can be very risky and often lead to people losing their money.
If you're thinking about investing in cryptocurrency, it's important to be aware of scams like this. Here are a few tips to help you protect yourself:
Rug pulls are a type of scam that has become increasingly common in the cryptocurrency world. CryptoZoo is one such platform that has been accused of being a rug-pull scam.
A rug-pull scam occurs when an individual or group creates a project to raise funds from investors, only to disappear shortly after collecting those funds. This leaves investors without their money and unable to recoup their losses. The term "rug pull" comes from the idea that someone has pulled the rug out from unsuspecting investors.
It's hard to know if CryptoZoo was a scam as the coin prices plummeted after word got out that the game did not have hard-made art but was using stock pictures. This, plus the fact that users never actually made sales in the game after buying the eggs means that none of the users made profits as initially promised.
Using his popularity, Logan Paul was able to widely market the new game called CryptoZoo. The game never kicked off which led to users losing millions of dollars in investments. Since cryptocurrency and NFTs are relatively new and unregulated, it can be easier for scammers to dupe people in the name of investment.
In the end, it's important to stay vigilant and do your due diligence before making any investment decision.
