Nfts
Built on a $6 million NFT scam? AI company accused of fraud
Youtuber and internet investigator Coffeezilla has exposed artificial intelligence (AI) company Rabbit for allegedly being built on a $6 million non-fungible token (NFT) scam. The company is accused of being responsible for the “fraud” of the GAMA NFT project as part of a story of lies.
Down the rabbit hole of NFT fraud
Stephen Findeisen, better known as Coffeezilla, posted a YouTube video calling out Rabbit Inc. for being built on the remains of an alleged 2021 NFT fraud. The internet investigator revealed the company was apparently trying to hide its links with the GAMA project.
Cafezilla revealed the depth of the AI company’s rabbit hole by claiming that, despite raising over $30 million in venture capital (VC), Rabbit was once called Cyber Manufacture Corporation.
In 2021, the company raised over $6 million for its “next-generation NFT project GAMA.” The project has been described as a decentralized organization “whose grand goal is to send 10,000 astronauts into space to collect extraterrestrial energy.”
At the time, GAMA founder Jesse Lyu made “crazy promises,” saying that NFT were just the beginning. According to YouTube Detective, Lyu said they would create “the first ever carbon negative cryptocurrency powered by our sun.”
The founder promised to build a clean energy network through sales of NFTs held by NFT buyers. Network energy would be used to mine GAMA tokens. However, the tokens were never launched and the project appeared abandoned.
His team responded to Coffeezilla’s request for comment, clarifying that GAMA was not abandoned but “open source”. Additionally, they claimed that a token was never promised, as Lyu stated in 2021 that his words were not final. The team added that they live in a country that “values freedom of expression.”
However, the Internet investigator found that the “open source” engine constantly crashed and no longer worked after several tests. He also pointed out that Lyu had stated in several Discord messages that the project’s cryptocurrency was part of the roadmap.
Based on this, Coffeezilla wondered where the $6 million in funding went and whether Lyu’s new project should be of confidence.
Another rabbit in the hat?
The founder of GAMA has embarked on a new project unrelated to NFTs. His latest company, Rabbit, focuses on AI technology. The company went viral in early 2024, raising $30 million in venture capital and selling more than $20 million in consumer products.
Rabbit launched its AI personal assistant device, Rabbit R1, on Easter 2024. However, the project received a lot of backlash for failing to deliver on its promises and hype.
Several tech reviewers agreed that R1 was part of a trend of releasing “unfinished” products. According to YouTuber Marques Brownlee, Rabbit’s product was “barely reviewable” and the pinnacle of “delivering barely finished products to win a race.”
Additionally, WeGPT founder and CTO Josh Ollin called the project a “scam” when announcing R1. He also repeatedly pointed out that the hype and interactions around the company were “false impressions” coming from bots.
Ollin called Lyu an “NFT scammer” and declared that his past behavior affected the new project due to the “fraudulent and insincere business practices exposed (fake engagement, fake bot followers, fake tech stack, overpriced vaporware). »
Coffeezilla expressed a similar sentiment in his video:
Many of Gama’s promises have not come true. This is relevant to R1, not only because this project is built on the skeleton of this fraudulent project, but also because R1 is similarly overrated.
As Internet Detective noted, Lyu diminished his ties to GAMA NFT, calling it a “fun little project” that he “has been involved in” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ultimately, he considers it important that users know the company’s “history of investors abandoning the company like they did with GAMA NFT.”
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com