NFT Developer, Twitch Streamer Steals Millions in User Funds to Play
Posted on: January 4, 2023, 06:54h.
Last updated: 4 January 2023, 06:54h.
One Twitch streamer may have cost hundreds of people millions of dollars. DNP3, whose real identity is unknown, used investment money from various NFT (non-fungible token) projects he started gambling, leaving his backers – and himself – broke.
DNP3 came clean via a Twitter post that began with the catchy phrase “I’m sorry.” He then went into a lengthy explanation of what he had done, admitting that he had breached his supporters’ trust and had illegally embezzled their money for his gambling habit.
The streamer used his Twitch popularity to gain support for three projects he started, including the Metaverse platform Gridcraft Network, the Goobers NFT series, and a cryptocurrency designed for charitable purposes, CluCoin (CLU). However, he showed no restraint when he took the money and used it for his own purposes.
More bad news for Crypto
The revelation comes on the heels of one of the biggest cryptocurrency failures to date, that of the FTX trading platform. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the exchange, will stand trial later this year for the platform’s implosion that suddenly saw around $32 billion disappear. He has pleaded not guilty in a US court after the country extradited him from the Bahamas.
Sorry.
Read:
— DNP3 (@DNPthree) 3 January 2023
DNP3’s failure is not on the same scale as Bankman-Fried, which once helped the White House create a COVID-19 prevention policy. However, there are still scams and deceptions that further exacerbate an already unstable attitude towards the crypto community.
Every penny I could find I would put in [crypto casino] effort hoping to win big” wrote DNP3 on Twitter. “Even when the big gains took place, it wasn’t enough. In the end I lost everything. In addition to my own savings, I also irresponsibly used investor funds to try to ‘get my money back’ from the casino, which was wrong for so many reasons.”
The streamer’s sudden admission comes after he admitted he is “completely devastated, both financially and spiritually.” He said he is working with gambling addiction specialists and coming out publicly may have been part of the rehabilitation process.
No transparency
It must now be investigated to determine how much damage he has caused. After DNP3’s disclosure, the price of CLU lost 63% before falling to 75% at press time, and Goobers lost 9%.
Currently, there are reportedly just under 297 trillion CLU in circulation, which after the price drop is worth around $181,553. Last week they would have been worth $881,810.
According to the website, the NFT series includes 15,000 unique NFTs. It is based on a fictional story about a chemical company whose products come to life and are released into nature. The series contains NFTs of varying values, from 0.0169 Ether (ETH) to 5ETH (US$21.14 to $6,253, based on current ETH prices).
NFTs are digital assets that represent collectibles, such as artwork, music, and more. Because they reside on a blockchain, they are immutable, provably unique and immune to counterfeiting. Ownership cannot be faked, and there is a permanent, openly accessible record of all activity associated with each asset.
OpenSea, the NFT trading platform that sells Goobers, indicates that there have been transactions for Goobers totaling 968ETH. This alone is worth $1.21 million.
However, due to a lack of transparency, there is no way to determine the actual financial value that DNP3 may have accumulated or gambled away. It is unclear whether Stake will have to respond to any legal battles that may arise.
