Logan Paul CryptoZoo Controversy

Overview

Logan Paul CryptoZoo Controversy refers to allegations that a cryptocurrency game called CryptoZoo, created and promoted by Logan Paul, was a scam defrauding investors and developers contracted to work on the game. The game launched in 2021 but quickly flopped due to poor functionality. In December 2022, YouTuber Coffeezilla began posting a series of videos investigating what happened, leading to heightened scrutiny of the project.

Background

In August of 2021, Logan Paul announced CryptoZoo, a cryptocurrency game he had supposedly spent six months working on.^[1] In the game, players would purchase an egg using the game's native token, $ZOO. That would then hatch into an animal. Players could breed that animal with another animal to make a hybrid animal, which they could then sell or elect to "burn" back into their own funds, allowing them to purchase more eggs. The game was scheduled to launch on September 1st, 2021. After a delay, the game launched on September 3rd.

Developments

CryptoZoo was quickly met with complaints and accusations that the project was a scam, causing the value of $ZOO to plummet.^[2] Users reported they could not make transactions or cash out in the game. Others noted that the "valuable animal hybrid" tokens were merely photoshopped stock images of animals, not original pieces, as Paul had claimed (example shown below).

Paul evidently gave up on the project and later claimed it failed because the developer had taken the code hostage, fled to Switzerland and demanded $1 million for it.^[3]

Coffeezilla Investigation

On December 16th, 2022, YouTuber Coffeezilla, known for investigating internet scams, uploaded the first video in a three-part series on CryptoZoo (shown below).

In the videos, Coffeezilla interviews several investors in the project, who reported that there was no way for them to extract their money or make transactions after they bought into it. He also interviews the developer whom Paul alleged to have held the code for the game ransom. That developer accused Paul of never paying him or his team the money they were owed, leading him to not release the code for the project until they were paid (parts 2 and 3 are shown below).

In response, Logan Paul invited Coffeezilla onto his podcast Impaulsive on January 4th to discuss the CryptoZoo situation.^[4] Coffeezilla agreed to speak to Paul, but on his own terms, saying he would not go to Paul but Paul was welcome to come on his channel or he would live-stream their conversation.^[5] He also said he had invited Paul to speak with him first; there are also moments in his videos where he attempts to reach Paul through his manager but the manager dodges questions and makes veiled threats at Coffeezilla.

Logan Paul's Response Video

On January 3rd, 2023, Logan Paul posted a video to his YouTube^[6] channel titled, "My Response To Coffeezilla’s Scam Allegations." The roughly seven-minute-long video starts off with Paul accusing Coffeezilla of using his name for money as well as for trying to work for law enforcement in the past but being discredited due to purportedly being "not anchored in truth" and "often speculative." Paul continued the video by outlining his own purported facts about the CryptoZoo development, specifically the developer identified as "Z Developer" who allegedly took the CryptoZoo source code to Switzerland and held it hostage. In the video, Paul identified the "Z Developer" as Zach Kelling who Paul alleged had been arrested in the past for "multiple felonies" such as allegedly robbing a liquor store while armed. To conclude the video, Paul threatened Coffezilla with legal action when saying, "I'll see you in court." Over the course of one day, the video received roughly 2.2 million views and 82,000 likes (shown below).

After the upload of Paul's response video, Coffeezilla took to Twitter and posted multiple tweets in response. For instance, he tweeted^[7] on January 3rd, 2023, "This is hardly important with all the insane lies on Logan Paul's new video… but did he really say he was going to SUE ME, and also say he'd love to host me on Impaulsive? LMAO IT'S A TRAP!" and received roughly 61,300 likes in one day. He then added a reply^[8] writing, "that ain't a podcast invite bro," as the caption for a lawsuit stock image, gaining roughly 28,400 likes (shown below).

Coffeezilla posted more tweets on January 4th in response to Paul's video, such as one tweet^[9] that alleged Paul had subscribed to his Patreon, advertised it on his main channel and said that he admired his "'work ethic' & 'creativity'" (shown below, left). A different Coffeezilla tweet^[10] uploaded on January 4th was more humorous, highlighting one screencap from Paul's video with the caption, "If Logan Paul sues I'm countersuing him based on this highly defamatory image," gaining roughly 104,400 likes in less than a day (shown below, right).

Other YouTubers posted reaction videos to Paul's response video, such as Cr1TiKaL on January 3rd, 2023. Cr1TiKaL's roughly 30-minute-long YouTube^[11] video received roughly 4 million views and 190,000 likes in one day (shown below).

Refunds

After the Coffeezilla fracas, Logan Paul promised refunds to CryptoZoo investors in the game's Discord in January of 2023. However, he did not deliver for one year, angering fans further. Finally, in January of 2024, he put forth a CryptoZoo refund opportunity, giving fans a month to get refunds for the project. Paul also promised he would sue bad actors who he claims stole his money and attempted to internally sabotage the game.

Search Interest

External References