A red ethereal game came off the market, shattering Tuesday in a complex tale involving crypto-economy, community reaction, and finally, a sudden takeover.

Launched earlier this month, Crypto-All Stars was an instant hit, with more than $ 2 million spent between users, according to data from dappradar.com. Like CryptoKitties before it, Crypto-All Stars allowed users to swap digital maps adorned with original designs, but this time there was a touch, a bespoke for community engagement.

Crypto-All Stars, a digital marketplace for Twitter's crypto favorites, has allowed users to trade the biggest names in technology, from bedecoin creator Charlie Lee to co-founder AngelList Naval Ravikant and the infamous blogger Bitfinex "d.

And in its run of a week, the game has become something of a little sensation even – bouncing only 100,000 views below its competitor, CryptoKitties, according to alexa site data. com.

But if the platform attracted its share of fans, it also attracted critics who wondered if it had been designed with the appropriate incentives in play.

Indeed, a user seems to have become so private about the game that he only eventually bought it to turn it off. At the time of going to press, the Crypto-All Stars website no longer displays its original advertisement, but rather a message from its pseudonymous buyer explaining why the popular game will no longer be available.

Written by "Mexicantarget", the message became the subject of Twitter, as it alleges that original founders were simply ready to cheat unsuspecting buyers.

Mexicantarget wrote:

"I fight against the scum like you who create Ponzis and bring people … I'm really sick of situations like this, where poor suckers invest in schemes like yours and get burned. "

For this lone assailant, Crypto-All Stars was not just a fun way to use the ethereum chain, but a clever way to pit users against each other for the gain of the founders. For industry watchers, however, it may be yet another scratch time for technology.

As the founder of the project, Adam Hadar wrote on Twitter:

"A character from South Park, a man with an anonymous mask and a real person enter a bar and 7 days later … # crypto"

The accumulation

Coming back, it was easy to see why Crypto-All Stars was able to quickly win the spirit.

One of the few games that emerged in the hype around CryptoKitties, so-called "collectable crypto" had been praised as presenting a worthwhile use case for the Ethereum blockchain – unique collectable digital created with a new standard called ERC -721.

Even the ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin celebrated the cats, saying that the game "illustrates very well that the value of a blockchain extends far beyond applications that would literally be closed by banks or governments they did not use them. "

In the same vein, crypto-speakers came out bullish about Crypto-All Stars.

"I am fascinated by @cryptoallstarz: the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it could become more than just a game, a kind of prediction market for the crypto community", said Maciek Laskus, developer of a crypto-influencers analysis site, on Twitter.

According to an archived image of the game's website, when Crypto-All Stars users purchased a card, it was immediately put back on the market at a higher price. The smart contracts carrying the cards would double in price with each transaction until reaching 0.05 ETH. And once they reached 0.05 ETH, they then increased by 25%.

In this way, Crypto-All Stars played the CryptoKitties virality, but it also added, allowing those who were on the real cards to check that it was them via Twitter and then to receive some of the profits.

The calculation was split as follows: 92% of the profits from a card sold were returned to the owners of the card, 4% to the verified star and 4% to the creators of the platform.

As such, featured crypto celebrities took on Twitter to pump their cards.

"Go to CryptoKitties, we now have Crypto-All Stars to plug the ethereum network!" Charlie Lee from litecoin wrote on Twitter.

Others called it "toxic," stating that those involved "made the fame of their followers" and compared its structure to a "ponzi." It seems that Mexicantarget has been in agreement with the latter.

The conflict

But the cracks began to manifest even before the purchase, the two founders of the platform becoming publicly in combat.

In a blog post published on Sunday, Crypto Randy Marsh alleged that his co-founder, Hadar, had disappeared, but that he was also adding new cards without the consent – something that could hurt the # Economics of the game

As a result of the infighting, Marsh wrote, "Our co-founder and lead developer Adam has locked me out of the project and is holding him hostage to the ransom of a redemption."

In a screen capture posted on Twitter, Marsh was also seen transmitting messages to users for the purpose of returning funds. Responding on Twitter, Hadar said that he was actively sending payments to users of the game.

"I am the first to send payments [people] then [will] view the open source code," writes the lead developer.

Hadar continued:

"I can not believe you're doing this to me, I'll post all screenshots, I'll publish all the open source code and I'll continue the payments as I've always done and they are verifiable on blockchain You tried to stop me and now you follow me to destroy me. "

As Hadar alludes, he seems to have become unhappy with Crypto Randy Marsh's involvement in the project, and the organic nature of his leadership (Crypto Randy Marsh is joining later on the promotion of the project), feeling like he has diminished his involvement in the success of the game.

Later, Hadar tweeted that he had sent Marsh the remaining funds, writing "he can now make the payments, I stop being a slave to the fucking glory of me." call a crook. "

The online conflict caused some users to suspect that the founders were trying to escape with funds, while others were eager to sell their cards in fear that the value would suddenly disappear. .

The reasons?

As to how to go forward after the controversy, the points to remember remain difficult to analyze.

"Apparently, the guy who bought Crypto-All Stars intends to shut everything down.What fucking shit.I have been dealing with psychotics," wrote Crypto Randy Marsh, it became apparent that the purchased site would be offline.

The internet at large seems to largely agree.

Even Riccardo Spagni, the main manager of the cryptocurrency monero (and a fervent critic of the ICOs who plays fast and with the term "scam") said that he did not really understand why the game was demonized .

"I mean, people will always buy stupid stuff, white knights are just idiots," he told CoinDesk.

But the biggest concern for many is whether the money will be returned in one form or another.

Mexicantarget continues to state that 30 ether belonging to the founders is now in the hands of a sequestrator named Cyrus. Although, according to screen captures messages among the founders, it does not seem that we can decide what will be easy to decide.

For users, however, we still do not know whether they will be left empty handed, or what lessons are learned from the narrative in its messy entirety.

Neeraj Agarwal, communications director of the Center's non-profit Center Center, commented that his only thoughts were that it seemed like the case of a good concept that would be wasted.

Agarwal concluded:

"I thought it was a fun idea, but it did not work."

Screenshot of Crypto-All Stars website

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