Controversial YouTuber Logan Paul has apologized to fans who lost money after investing in his cryptocurrency game called CryptoZoo.
The 27-year-old encouraged people to buy cryptocurrency collectibles for what he billed as a “really fun game that makes you money.”
But, more than a year after its release, the game hasn’t materialized and Paul has apparently left the project.
Now, in response to another YouTuber’s investigation of the business, he says he wants to “fix this.”
CryptoZoo launched in 2021 after being discussed on Impaulsive, Paul’s podcast.
The crypto millionaire, who has more than 23 million YouTube subscribers, said he had spent “probably around $1 million” developing CryptoZoo and had a “great team behind the project.”
The game’s website says that it is “in the process of being updated.”
In a now-deleted description, the platform was described as “a self-contained ecosystem that allows ZooKeepers (zoo keepers) to buy, sell, and trade exotic and hybrid animals. CryptoZoo incorporates cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into a simple and seamless game.” fun with familiar mechanics.”
The project sold cartoon egg images as NFTs, with the promise that collectors could turn them into randomly chosen animal images.
Collectors could then “breed” their animal images to create new species and earn currency in a pegged cryptocurrency called $ZOO.
In a project roadmap – since deleted – many games were promised in 2022 that would incorporate the NFT imagery of animals.
It is not known how many investors CryptoZoo has, but the project’s Discord server registers around 500 members.
However, after selling millions of dollars worth of NFTs and cryptocurrencies, Paul stopped talking about CrytpoZoo.
His team has not responded to the BBC’s request for comment.
Last month, cryptocurrency scam researcher Stephen Findeisen, known as Coffeezilla on YouTube, began a series of videos about CryptoZoo, calling it a “scam.”
The American spoke to investors from around the world who claimed to have spent hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars on CryptoZoo items and that they were angry with Paul.
In his videos, which have had nearly 18 million views, Coffeezilla accused Paul of defrauding investors and abandoning them after selling them “worthless” digital items.
Last week, Paul posted a video refuting the allegations, visibly angry, saying he had made a mistake by hiring “fraudsters” and “criminals” to run his project, but denied that the failures were his fault.
He accused Findeisen of misinterpreting the facts and threatened to sue him.
But on Saturday, the youtuber deleted his video and apologized to the investigator.
He also wrote on CryptoZoo’s Discord page that he would “take responsibility, apologize, and come up with a plan in the near future.”
No further details have been released about how Paul plans to refund investors or relaunch CryptoZoo.
A 34-year-old American man told the BBC that he had spent $40,000 on NFT eggs after listening to Impaulsive.
“At first we all thought the project was experiencing some hiccups, but the way Logan dragged everyone down and then left him speechless is just wrong,” he said.
“It seems to me that Logan is now just trying to make amends after the Coffeezilla videos.
“I don’t want a refund, I would like to see the project complete and Logan do what he said at the beginning.
“I don’t think it will ever be as big as it could have been, but I think it’s important that the ‘founders’ do what they promised to investors.”
Previously, Paul has also been linked to the failed cryptocurrency Dink Doink, which he promoted in June 2021.
The entrepreneur became an internet celebrity by uploading short video clips to the video-sharing platform Vine, before turning his attention to YouTube.
In 2017, he faced a wave of criticism for a video showing the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan.
In recent years, Paul and his brother Jake, also a YouTuber, have become professional boxers with lucrative, high-profile fights against other YouTubers or retired martial artists.
Paul has also launched a beverage brand called Prime and recently signed a contract to star in the World Wrestling Entertainment series.
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