{"investigation":{"slug":"nftmachine","entity_name":"NFTMachine","trust_score":2,"severity_base":null,"score_modifier":0,"confidence":1,"status":"published","content_type":"investigation","summary":"NFTMachine is the online alias of Tyler Gaye, a Denver, Colorado resident who allegedly orchestrated a presale fraud in early 2021 by raising approximately $500,000 (reportedly 277 ETH from 130+ investors) for a promised NFT marketplace called opeNFT (also stylized ONFT), which was never launched. A Denver District Court judge entered a default judgment of $275,000 against Gaye in November 2022, classifying the conduct as civil theft. On-chain investigator ZachXBT has subsequently alleged Gaye continued launching new crypto projects — including Arcade DAO and Gamegear — under the alias 'scaredofboobs' without satisfying the court-ordered judgment.","sections":[{"content":"NFTMachine is the primary Twitter/X handle and online persona of Tyler Gaye, identified as a Denver, Colorado resident. Gaye operated the NFTMachine account across multiple platforms and was described in early opeNFT marketing materials as a 'Verified repeat top seller on Rarible.' His real identity was reportedly established by a private investigator hired by aggrieved investors and was further substantiated in a February 2022 Twitter thread by crypto investor 0xShual. ZachXBT, a prominent on-chain fraud investigator, has additionally alleged that Gaye later operated under the alias 'scaredofboobs' on X/Twitter. The NFTMachine Twitter account was subsequently suspended for rule violations.","heading":"Identity and Background","sources":[],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"In February 2021, NFTMachine announced opeNFT (also referred to as openFT and ONFT) via a Medium publication and a dedicated Telegram group. The project was presented as 'the first community-owned Crypto Art aggregator' — positioned as a decentralized competitor to OpenSea. NFTMachine solicited a presale of 37,500 ONFT governance tokens at approximately $13.33 per token (0.0074 ETH) against a target raise of ~$500,000, with a total intended token supply of 250,000. The project's Medium posts describe a governance structure, staking mechanism, and a roadmap with a Q2 2021 target launch. According to a detailed investor thread published by 0xShual, NFTMachine collected approximately 277 ETH from more than 130 investors to his ENS address. Following the presale, the promised platform was never delivered. Investors reported repeated launch delays stretching from Q2 2021 through late 2021, with dissenters allegedly being banned from the project's Telegram channel. GitHub repositories associated with the project were reportedly last updated approximately four months into the delay period. By late 2021, NFTMachine had allegedly muted the Telegram group, stopped public communication, and blocked critics. The raised funds were allegedly spent on personal NFT purchases rather than platform development.","heading":"The opeNFT Presale Fraud (2021)","sources":[],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"Court filings and reporting by BusinessDen describe that within one week of the opeNFT presale closing, NFTMachine spent 75 ETH (worth approximately $190,000 at the time) on NFT purchases for himself. A significant portion of these purchases were reportedly NFTs from the MoonCats collection, a digital art collection featuring pixelated cats. This spending pattern formed a central basis for the civil lawsuit and the court's finding of civil theft, as funds raised specifically for product development were used for personal asset acquisition.","heading":"MoonCats and Personal NFT Spending","sources":[],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"Seven investors filed a civil lawsuit against Tyler Gaye in Denver District Court. The plaintiffs included Tyler Rager and Mike Silver of Los Angeles, who alleged losing $7,300. Gaye did not respond to the plaintiffs or the court, resulting in a default judgment entered by Denver District Court Judge David Goldberg on or around November 9, 2022. The judgment comprised three components: approximately $55,000 in restitution of original investor funds; $55,000 in exemplary damages for 'reckless disregard' of victims' rights; and $165,000 in punitive damages after the court found the conduct rose to the level of civil theft under Colorado law. Additional legal fees were pending calculation at the time of reporting. The total judgment was approximately $275,000. As of subsequent ZachXBT reports, Gaye had allegedly not complied with the court order and had not repaid investors.","heading":"Civil Lawsuit and Default Judgment","sources":[],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"In March 2023, ZachXBT issued a community alert on X (formerly Twitter) stating: 'Community alert: the scammer known as NFTMachine is back with a new project @arcade_dao which also appears to be blatant copyright infringement. I would recommend avoiding it at all costs.' Arcade DAO was a retro gaming-themed crypto project. ZachXBT alleged that it was operated by Tyler Gaye and characterized it as another attempt to raise funds from the crypto community despite the unresolved civil judgment. Reporting by BeInCrypto corroborated the Arcade DAO allegations and noted the project also faced scrutiny for alleged use of copyrighted material.","heading":"Arcade DAO (2023)","sources":[],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"On December 28, 2023, ZachXBT alleged via his Telegram channel that the X/Twitter account 'scaredofboobs' — developer of Gamegear, a web-based retro gaming platform featuring titles such as Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Dig Dug — is in fact Tyler Gaye, the same individual behind NFTMachine. Gamegear was associated with Solana smart contract development and open-source contributions. ZachXBT stated that Gaye had not repaid investors as court-ordered and had continued to launch new crypto projects. CoinTelegraph reported on these allegations in late December 2023. The Gamegear/scaredofboobs connection introduced a Solana dimension to the entity's activity, extending beyond the original Ethereum-based opeNFT fraud.","heading":"Gamegear and 'scaredofboobs' Alias (2023–2024)","sources":[],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"On-chain fraud investigator ZachXBT has flagged NFTMachine/Tyler Gaye on multiple occasions across different years. The original opeNFT rug pull was the basis of a detailed February 2022 community thread by 0xShual that helped establish Gaye's real identity. ZachXBT subsequently issued alerts about Arcade DAO in March 2023 and about the Gamegear/scaredofboobs alias in December 2023, each time asserting that Gaye had not satisfied the court judgment and continued launching new projects to defraud the crypto community. These alerts were reported by CoinTelegraph, CoinLive, and other crypto media outlets.","heading":"ZachXBT Investigations","sources":[],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"The available evidence, sourced from court records (via reporting), investor community threads, and ZachXBT's on-chain investigations, suggests an alleged pattern of serial fraudulent project launches. NFTMachine's documented history spans at minimum: the opeNFT presale fraud (2021, Ethereum), Arcade DAO (2023, alleged), and Gamegear under the 'scaredofboobs' alias (2023–2024, Solana). In each instance, ZachXBT alleged that Gaye had not repaid victims of prior frauds before launching subsequent projects. The civil theft finding by a Denver court and the default judgment for non-response are corroborated by multiple Tier 1 and Tier 2 news sources. The alleged continuation of crypto activity in violation of a court order represents an elevated and ongoing risk to potential investors.","heading":"Pattern of Conduct","sources":[],"severity":"medium"}],"timeline":[{"date":"2021-02","event":"NFTMachine announces opeNFT via Medium as a community-owned NFT art aggregator and opens a Telegram group for investors.","source":"","source_url":"https://openft.medium.com/introducing-openft-the-first-community-owned-crypto-art-aggregator-bc50cfb359af","date_original":"2021-02-01"},{"date":"2021-02","event":"opeNFT presale launches: 37,500 ONFT tokens offered at $13.33/token (0.0074 ETH), targeting a $500,000 raise. Approximately 277 ETH collected from 130+ investors within days.","source":"","source_url":"https://nftevening.com/openft-investors-get-lawyers-involved-after-project-is-branded-a-rugpull/","date_original":"2021-02-01"},{"date":"2021-02-22","event":"NFTMachine allegedly spends 75 ETH (~$190,000) on personal NFT purchases — largely MoonCats — within one week of the presale closing.","source":"","source_url":"https://businessden.com/2022/05/24/investors-say-denver-nft-artist-stole-500k-spent-it-on-pixelated-cat-art/"},{"date":"2021-04","event":"First signs of investor distress emerge; investors asking questions are allegedly banned from the project Telegram channel.","source":"","source_url":"https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1493975165625065472.html","date_original":"2021-04-01"},{"date":"2021-07","event":"NFTMachine claims the platform is '95% complete' and releases a mockup site after five months of delays.","source":"","source_url":"https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1493975165625065472.html","date_original":"2021-07-01"},{"date":"2021-10","event":"NFTMachine mutes the Telegram group, ceases public communication, and blocks critics. opeNFT platform never launches.","source":"","source_url":"https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1493975165625065472.html","date_original":"2021-10-01"},{"date":"2022-02-15","event":"Crypto investor 0xShual publishes a detailed Twitter thread marking one year since the opeNFT Telegram launch, documenting the alleged fraud and identifying Tyler Gaye as NFTMachine.","source":"","source_url":"https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1493975165625065472.html"},{"date":"2022-05-24","event":"BusinessDen reports that seven investors have filed a civil lawsuit against Tyler Gaye in Denver District Court, alleging he stole $500K and spent it on pixelated cat art (MoonCats NFTs).","source":"","source_url":"https://businessden.com/2022/05/24/investors-say-denver-nft-artist-stole-500k-spent-it-on-pixelated-cat-art/"},{"date":"2022-09","event":"NFT Evening reports that opeNFT investors have retained lawyers after the project is widely branded a rug pull.","source":"","source_url":"https://nftevening.com/openft-investors-get-lawyers-involved-after-project-is-branded-a-rugpull/","date_original":"2022-09-01"},{"date":"2022-11-09","event":"Denver District Court Judge David Goldberg enters a default judgment against Tyler Gaye for $275,000 — comprising $55,000 restitution, $55,000 exemplary damages, and $165,000 in punitive damages for civil theft — after Gaye fails to respond to the lawsuit.","source":"","source_url":"https://businessden.com/2022/11/07/nft-scammer-from-denver-ordered-to-pay-275k/"},{"date":"2023-03-29","event":"ZachXBT issues a community alert on X warning that NFTMachine has launched Arcade DAO and alleging it is both a scam and involves blatant copyright infringement.","source":"","source_url":"https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1640892272161046535"},{"date":"2023-12-28","event":"ZachXBT alleges via Telegram that X user 'scaredofboobs', developer of the Solana-connected retro gaming platform Gamegear, is Tyler Gaye (NFTMachine). ZachXBT states Gaye has not paid the court-ordered judgment and continues launching new crypto projects.","source":"","source_url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/zachxbt-alleges-gamegear-dev-scaredofboobs-is-scammer-nft-machine"}],"sources_used":[],"source_tags":["zachxbt"],"addresses":[],"reviewed":false,"reviewed_by":null,"model_used":"claude-sonnet","created_at":"2026-05-04T16:05:03.97835+00:00","updated_at":"2026-08-29T01:34:11.47+00:00"}}