PoolTogether Raises Over 470 ETH From NFT Sales To Support Its Legal Defense

PoolTogether, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, has successfully raised 470.90 Ether (ETH) from non-fungible token (NFT) trading to support its legal defense team against a putative class action lawsuit.

The DeFi platform recently launched a 21-day NFT campaign to raise at least 769 ETH, worth roughly $1.5 million, to fight a lawsuit, which they believe, has “no merit” with one of its users. Remarkably, the platform has already amassed more than halfway to its goal, with more than 15 days now remaining before the campaign ends:

“PoolTogether Inc. is a defendant in a putative class action lawsuit. A person deposited the equivalent value of $12.00 into the protocol and is now suing PoolTogether Inc. and others for substantial damages.”

PoolTogether engaged in a lawsuit with Joseph Kent, the former technology lead for Senator Elizabeth Warren’2020 presidential campaign, in January after depositing roughly $12 worth of stablecoin into the protocol. At the time, Kent sued the project, its founder Leighton Cusack and several others of its affiliates for substantial damages.

According to an amended complaint form filed in February, the plaintiff alleged that the DeFi platform operates an illegal lottery in New York, arguing that PoolTogether offered a product with a positive expected value. Notably, PoolTogether offers 50% of each weekly prize as a reserve.

Kent Wants Compensation From PoolTogether

Kent now seeks compensation worth double the value of funds he staked on purchasing lottery tickets in PoolTogether and doubles the reasonable amount of the Attorney’s service fee and the overall cost of legal action.

PoolTogether is renowned for offering risk-free lotteries on stablecoin deposits in the platform, using ticket-buyers and liquidity providers’ capital to generate revenue from DeFi lending protocols.

According to PoolTogether, the successful winners receive the largest share of the yield, while the handful of runner-ups gets smaller shares, and all participants receive a full refund. The DeFi platform currently offers $80,436 worth of weekly prizes across its v3 and v4 pools.

While commenting about Kent’s lawsuit, PoolTogether mentioned that although his allegations lack merit, a strong defense is still needed. PoolTogether has refuted claims cited in an article from the Wall Street Journal, stating that the lawsuit appears to put the DeFi community score at trial in January

In the meantime, the crypto community showcases strong unity and support for the liberation campaign, trading more than 2,416 NFTs for 470.90 ETH, worth $911,959, at the time of writing. The platform aims at raising 1,076 ETH, or around $2.2 million.

PoolTogether’s NFTs

PoolTogether recently launched three versions of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), featuring purple animated avatars called “Pooly.” The DeFi platform features a supporter tier, consisting of 10,000 NFTs pricing for 0.1 ETH and the lawyer tier of 1,000NFTs for 1 ETH each, respectively. Lastly, it features the Judge tier of NFTs going for 75 ETH a pop.

So far, many notable figures in the DeFi space, such as Chris Dixon, the general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, have already offered their campaign support, purchasing one of the 75 ETH judge NFTs.

Notably, although the crypto community continues rallying behind PoolTogether, the plaintiff showcases distaste for the whole crypto space. Kent is gravely concerned that the crypto sector is accelerating climate impact and allows people to evade financial regulations, among other illicit activities.