Logan Paul is providing refunds for CryptoZoo, the failed and allegedly fraudulent Pokémon-inspired NFT recreation that he launched in 2021. The catch? You possibly can’t sue him for those who get a refund.

In an X (previously Twitter) put up on Thursday, Paul introduced that he’s “personally committing” greater than $2.3 million to purchase again NFTs bought by way of CryptoZoo. Claims might be submitted on-line till February 8.

“I by no means made a single penny from the challenge, interval. In reality, the other is true, as a result of I spent a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} making an attempt to make it occur,” Paul stated in his put up. “Such as you, I used to be extremely dissatisfied that the sport was not delivered.”

Claimants will obtain 0.1 ETH per eligible NFT — often called “Base Eggs” and “Base Animals.” Gamers had been supposed to have the ability to “breed” the animals that “hatched” from the bottom NFT that they bought, which might create “hybrid” animals that had been additionally NFTs. Hybrid animals should not eligible for the buy-back program.

The shape’s phrases and situations additionally word that any submitted NFTs that Paul “in his sole discretion deems ineligible” is not going to be returned. To be eligible for a refund, claimants additionally need to conform to waive any “precise or anticipated claims in opposition to Paul” — which suggests promising to not take authorized motion in opposition to him in relation to CryptoZoo.

The influencer, who faces a class motion lawsuit for allegedly making hundreds of thousands of {dollars} of cryptocurrency by selling a recreation that in the end didn’t exist, additionally filed a cross-claim. In an X put up, he stated that he “filed a lawsuit in federal court docket in Texas to carry these dangerous actors accountable.”

“This lawsuit is the results of an exhaustive investigation that included the assessment of the whole lot of conversations and monitoring nefarious buying and selling exercise associated to the challenge,” Paul continued in his X put up. “Nefarious buying and selling exercise taken behind our backs, with out our data, and with the intention of defrauding us all.”

Rob Freund, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who represents manufacturers and creators, advised TechCrunch that the buy-back program may very well be Paul’s try at minimizing damages. Class motion lawsuits might be “devastating” for defendants, as damages can embody what the plaintiff and sophistication members initially misplaced, along with punitive damages and legal professional’s charges. Freund steered that by refunding NFTs in trade for waiving claims in opposition to him, Paul can individually settle with class members, successfully minimizing the potential damages.

“Paul could also be betting (or a minimum of hoping) that sufficient individuals who would in any other case be potential class members will take him up on this provide and drastically scale back his potential publicity within the pending case by doing so,” Freund stated. “That might let him angle for a way more favorable settlement.”

Paul described the NFT challenge as a “actually enjoyable recreation that makes you cash” when he introduced it throughout an August 2021 episode of his podcast, “Impaulsive.” CryptoZoo was marketed as a gathering recreation utilizing Ethereum — every NFT was an egg that was imagined to hatch into an animal that was assigned one in all 5 ranges of rarity. These animals may very well be bred to provide hybrid animals, which additionally diverse in rarity. Each time an egg hatched, it was imagined to yield a specific amount of $ZOO tokens, which had been decided by the animal’s rarity. Gamers had been supposed to have the ability to both purchase extra eggs or money out every time an animal hatched.

Paul additionally promised that CryptoZoo would come with interactive minigames and that the challenge would ultimately “enter the metaverse.”

A three-part investigation by unbiased YouTube reporter Coffeezilla documented how the challenge unraveled; the sport was by no means completed as a result of builders stop as a result of nonpayment, Paul and his associates allegedly deliberate to have interaction in market manipulation and gamers couldn’t breed their hatched eggs or money out.

Coffeezilla reported that two nameless accounts acquired payouts from the challenge — one acquired $364,000 (92.7697 ETH) and the opposite acquired $1 million (260.000 ETH). On the time of Coffeezilla’s reporting, CryptoZoo held roughly $79,875,629, or 1,214,225,001.8 $ZOO for “wildlife charities and CryptoZoo improvement.

In now-deleted response movies, Paul accused one other CryptoZoo developer of scamming him and the remainder of the crew, however later advised followers on Discord that he can be “taking accountability.” He then outlined a plan to pay again traders and end the sport.

The class motion lawsuit filed final 12 months within the Western District of Texas alleges that Paul and different CryptoZoo associates promoted the challenge to “customers unfamiliar with digital forex merchandise,” and that they “manipulated the digital forex marketplace for Zoo Tokens to their benefit.”

In an reply and cross declare filed on Thursday, Paul alleged that Jake Greenbaum and Eduardo Ibanez, who labored on CryptoZoo and had been additionally named within the class motion lawsuit, had been “con artists” who “sabotaged” the challenge. Paul additionally claimed whereas he misplaced “a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} because of the duplicity and deceit of these he trusted,” Greenbaum and Ibanez pocketed “hundreds of thousands.”

CryptoZoo, nevertheless, is useless. Paul posted that after “personally” spending $400,000 to finish it early final 12 months, releasing it was unfeasible. He additionally reminded followers that the Zoo Token was created to help the sport, and was by no means supposed as an “funding automobile,” so the buy-back just isn’t supposed to “compensate those that gambled on the crypto market and misplaced.”

“Sadly, there are too many regulatory hurdles that might have to be cleared that I didn’t initially perceive and would in the end delay this buy-back even additional,” he stated. “This buy-back is a manner for me to make complete those that supposed to play CryptoZoo.”