Youtuber and Internet investigator Coffeezilla has called out 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 GAMA NFT Project “fraud” as part of a history of lies.
Down The NFT Fraud Rabbit Hole
Stephen Findeisen, better known as Coffeezilla, published a YouTube video calling out Rabbit Inc. for being built on the remains of an alleged NFT fraud from 2021. The internet investigator revealed that the company is seemingly trying to hide its ties to the GAMA project.
Coffeezilla unveiled the depth of the AI company’s rabbit hole by claiming that, despite raising over $30 million in venture capital (VC), Rabbit used to be called Cyber Manufacture Corporation.
In 2021, the company raised over $6 million for its “next-generation NFT Project GAMA.” The project was described as a decentralized organization “with the grand goal of sending 10,000 astronauts into space to collect extraterrestrial energy.”
At the time, GAMA’s founder Jesse Lyu would make “wild promises,” claiming the NFTs were just the start. According to the YouTube sleuth, Lyu declared they would create “the first-ever carbon-negative cryptocurrency powered by our sun.”
The founder promised to build a clean energy grid through NFT sales owned by NFT buyers. The grid’s energy would be used to mine GAMA tokens. However, the tokens were never launched, and the project seemed to be abandoned.
Its team replied to Coffeezilla’s request for comment, stating that GAMA was not abandoned but “open-sourced.” Moreover, they claimed a token was never promised, as Lyu said in 2021 that his words were not final. The team added that they live in a country that “values free speech.”
Nonetheless, the internet investigator found that the “open-sourced” engine constantly crashed and was non-functional after several tests. He also highlighted that Lyu stated in several discord messages that the project’s cryptocurrency was part of the roadmap.
Based on this, Coffeezilla questioned where the $6 million in funding went and whether Lyu’s new project should be trusted.
Another Rabbit In The Hat?
GAMA’s founder 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 VC and selling over $20 million in consumer products.
Rabbit launched their AI personal assistance device, Rabbit R1, on easter 2024. However, the project has received a lot of backlash for not living up to the hype and promises.
Several tech reviewers concurred 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.’”
Moreover, founder and CTO of WeGPT, Josh Ollin, called the project a “scam” when R1 was announced. He also pointed out on different occasions that the hype and interactions around the company were “fake impressions” from bots.
Ollin called Lyu an “NFT grifter” and stated that his past behavior affected the new project due to the “shady insincere fraudulent business practices on display (fake engagement, fake bot followers, fake tech stack, overpriced vaporware).”
Coffeezilla stated a similar sentiment in his video:
So many of the promises of Gama didn’t happen. This is relevant to the R1 not just because this project is built on the skeleton of that scam project, it’s also because the R1 is overhyped in a similar way.
As noted by the internet sleuth, Lyu has diminished his links to GAMA NFT, calling it a “fun little project” he was “involved with” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ultimately, he considers it important for users to know the company’s “history of abandoning investors like they did with GAMA NFT.”
