It seems that every year, Logan Paul always finds himself viral on the internet—whether for good or bad reasons. Now, the media personality is once again trending as he’s embroiled in another serious controversy: a cryptocurrency scam.
Yes, you heard that right. The YouTuber-turned-actor-turned-boxer-turned-professional wrestler (lmao, so many professions) is trending for the wrong reason…again.
Now, you may be wondering: what did Paul do this time? Well, it’s about his 2021 pet project CryptoZoo and how a fellow YouTuber named Coffeezilla has exposed the said project as “scam.” Allow us to break them down one by one for you, so you don’t have to watch YouTube videos to keep up on the issue (because trust us–there are a lot of videos right now dedicated to this drama).
Explaining Logan Paul’s CryptoZoo project
Back in 2021, Paul announced on his podcast, Impaulsive, that he and his team will be launching an NFT-based crypto project called CryptoZoo, a “really fun game that makes you money,” as described by Paul.
CryptoZoo is a play-to-earn game that uses ZooCoin, which people could use to purchase “eggs.” Those eggs could be hatched and given buyers a randomized animal which, Paul claimed, is “handmade art” (which isn’t true, by the way).
Once hatched, these animals could then be sold to earn more ZooCoin, which could potentially be cashed out to earn real-life money. This process could be repeated, thus, creating a cycle where consumers would buy an egg, hatch it, and sell it to earn money.
Coffeezilla’s CryptoZoo investigation
CryptoZoo sounds easy to play and very enticing, however, the project appears to be a “scam.”
Just last month, YouTuber Stephen Findeisen, famously known as Coffeezilla, uploaded a three-part video series investigating CryptoZoo for many months. Coffeezilla is a famous crypto journalist who’s been uncovering and exposing crypto scams and frauds.
In the videos, Coffeezilla was able to talk to some of Paul’s fans who invested in his CryptoZoo project. According to them, they were enticed because of the way Paul marketed the project. Unfortunately, investors lost thousands of dollars and the game’s feature, the core mechanic of CryptoZoo which is to hatch their eggs, didn’t work. The video also allegedly claimed that the game didn’t materialize and was seemingly abandoned by Paul.
Another controversy that Coffeezilla pointed out was that there were some “bad actors”—Paul’s choice of words—that were involved in the project. There’s one developer, who was later on named Zach Kelling, who took hostage of the project’s code because he wasn’t getting paid. Then there’s also Crypto King Jake who stole $6 million from the project, and lead developer Eddie Ibanez, who faked his credentials and his life story and is a professional conman.
Talk about the biggest red flags of the project, huh?
Logan Paul threatens to sue Coffeezilla over his claims and retracts it later on
Now, what would you do if you got accused of a scam? Of course, you have to defend yourself and clear your name—and that’s what Paul did through the most YouTuber way possible–through a reply video.
In a now-deleted video, Paul accused Coffeezilla of using his name for clout. The media personality said: “Like many on this platform, you have successfully used my name for views and money. While your work used to be impartial, your addiction to clicks has clouded your judgment and you’ve made very real errors with very real repercussions.”
He even went on to discredit Coffeezilla’s investigation by not checking in on Zach Kelling’s background, who—according to Paul—had a criminal record. Paul also accused Coffeezilla of recording the conversation with his manager, Jeff Levin, without his permission and posting it online.
“Although you didn’t verify any backgrounds, substantiate any evidence, took multiple criminals’ words as truth, and broke the laws, you still published the defamation,” Paul said.
Paul went on to threaten Coffeezilla if the latter wouldn’t “reach out in a timely manner and discuss the issues” with him.
Logan Paul says me interviewing people who lost money in CryptoZoo is "milking the shit out of it", and if I continue to do so and call this a scam: it's going to be worse for me in his lawsuit. pic.twitter.com/quDUrd4ELm
— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) January 4, 2023
While Paul accused the crypto journalist of not reaching out to him, Coffeezilla, on the other hand, took to Twitter to share that he did reach out in October to ask him about the project. With no response from Paul, that was the time when he reached out to his manager, Levin.
Coffeezilla also pointed out that in the response video, Paul didn’t apologize to the victims nor took account of what happened.
Logan Paul responded. TL;DW
0 apologies
0 addressing victims
0 accountability
I will reply in full when I organize my thoughts, but for now, Logan accuses me of not reaching out to him directly until Dec 24, 2022…but doesn't mention I reached out over a year prior on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/5AfEfDXFwj— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) January 3, 2023
So, what now?
After a few back and forth with Coffeezilla, Paul seemed to change his tune and retracted his threat to sue the internet detective. Coffeezilla also shared that Paul had apologized to him over the phone.
In a tweet, Coffeezilla wrote: 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,” he continued.
Paul also addressed in a Discord message that he’s going to be taking “accountability, apologizing, and coming forward with a plan.”
Logan’s response: his response was “rash and misaligned with the true issue”
He’s going to be taking “accountability, apologizing, and coming forward with a plan”. pic.twitter.com/nI2tyQd28i
— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) January 7, 2023
As of this writing, Paul is yet to announce his plans regarding CryptoZoo.
There you go, kids. Hope we can all learn to not fully trust someone with our money, even though they’re our idols or someone that we admire.
Here’s to hoping Paul will address the public sooner or later, and may the victims get something out of this whole fiasco
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