Ready Makers Inc. On a restraining order in a dispute with Ready Maker (Gibraltar) Ltd.

Ready Makers Inc. In a battle with herself. Or rather with some of its entities.

A number of blockchain gaming deals lead to disputes when it comes to cooperation between entrepreneurs and investors, especially regarding the issuance of tokens by the company. An example of this is the investor/original leader dispute of Ready Makers Inc. and its division Ready Maker (Gibraltar) Ltd. It is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit.

The division, formerly known as Ready.gg, now calls itself Play Network, a Web3 gaming platform company that makes it easier for game companies to create Web3 games. Play Network’s CEO is Cristina Macedo, and it said it appointed John Nash as chief operating officer on June 24, 2024, when She was promoted to CEO. At that time, she replaced outgoing founding CEO David S. Benahmom, who founded the company in New York in 2019. They are now in a legal battle. We’re trying to figure out who Nash is.

Sean Layden, former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, is listed as an advisor to Play. Macedo and Layden declined to comment for this story. Bennahoum made a comment in a press release about the lawsuit but did not agree to an interview.

Bennahum and other investors in Ready Makers Inc. filed a lawsuit against Ready Maker (Gibraltar) Ltd. As it prepares to launch Play tokens. The lawsuit said Play failed to distribute 18% of the Token Cap table to investors.

In the lawsuit, Ready Makers Inc. A temporary restraining order was issued granting her access to Readyio’s GitHub account and the repositories accompanying the company’s projects. Paul Fioravanti Jr., Vice Chancellor, of the Delaware Court of Chancery, granted the TRO.

Overall, it’s a sad situation, partly because disputes like this show just how immature the Web3 gaming space is. People may look at this whole situation as another disaster that will make them happy to avoid blockchain games altogether.

The court order noted that Ready Maker (Gibraltar) Ltd. Working under Macedo, Ready Makers’ former COO, she must restore Ready Makers Inc.’ Access to blockchain gaming technology and critical infrastructure, including GitHub repositories, cloud systems, and domain accounts.

The Delaware Court of Chancery ruling comes on the heels of Ready Gibraltar’s December launch of the cryptocurrency token $PLAY, which Ready Makers claims violates contractual obligations to its investors. Ready Makers claimed to have entrusted Macedo with operating the Gibraltar entity for a planned token listing after raising $8.5 million from gaming industry leaders including Strauss Zelnick (Chairman of Take-Two Interactive), Bitkraft Ventures, and prominent investors to develop technology that enables… Game publishers are integrating blockchain features.

“Ready Games developed this infrastructure with funding from major gaming investors. Ready Gibraltar controlled that technology and falsely claimed to have independently developed it,” David S. Benahmom, founder of Ready Games, said in a statement on January 7. “.

“We are grateful to the court for moving quickly to protect our intellectual property rights. While enforcing Ready’s rights is necessary, the core mission of the platform remains unchanged,” Benahoum said. “Our goal remains to build a comprehensive and sustainable platform that serves both players and token holders in the broader web3 gaming ecosystem.”

“We fully support Ready Makers on this,” Scott Robb, founding general partner of Bitkraft Ventures, a global gaming venture capital firm, said in a statement. “We are fully committed to Ready’s vision of empowering game developers with seamless blockchain integration tools.”

Ready vs ready

The case is Ready Makers Inc. v. Ready Maker (Gibraltar) Limited, No. 2024-1355-PAF, Delaware Court of Chancery.

Bennahum created Ready Makers Inc. in 2016, which operates under the name Ready Games, with a focus on enabling game publishers to seamlessly integrate blockchain features into existing games. Investors included gaming and media industry leaders Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, Bitkraft Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Eldridge Industries, Front Range Ventures, and notable angel investors such as Jason Calacanis Launch Fund and Sebastian Bourget, COO of The Sandbox.

The lawsuit alleged that, under the alias, John Nash, Cutrone fraudulently negated key contracts held by Play, and may have violated numerous securities laws—for example, by selling and managing securities under a false name.

The lawsuit alleges “brazen breaches of contract and unlawful misappropriation of plaintiff’s proprietary, confidential information, intellectual property and trade secrets.”

In October 2017, Benahuum Macedo was appointed COO of Ready Canada and Ready US. Ready US started out in 2018 as a mobile gaming platform aiming to democratize game creation. Its mobile games have garnered an audience of 2.5 million players.

Over time, the company has developed different strategy tools, including some focused on blockchain games. “Essentially for blockchain gaming, domains like Ready.gg host the infrastructure needed to support Ready US gaming platforms by enabling features such as a user-generated content marketplace, token economies, and centralized platforms,” she said.

Starting in 2021, Benahoum has focused on Ready US’s R&D integrating blockchain technology. The assets are backed by non-fungible tokens (NFTs) allowing ownership, trading and resale across games. To build its own blockchain ecosystem, Ready US decided to launch a token, previously called $AURA, now called $PLAY. The token was intended to incentivize developers, creators, and players.

(a Delaware law firm, based in New York) claims to have entered into an agreement with the defendant to support the token economy in August 2022. Ready Gibraltar, founded in February 2022, will issue the token because such transactions in the United States are subject to more legal restrictions. Stricter than in Gibraltar. Ready US President Davide Guillo commissioned the launch of the Macedo token.

Bennahoum agreed to step down from his position as CEO of Ready US and president of Ready Canada on July 19, 2024, based on the agreement on how Macedo would manage Ready Gibraltar, the lawsuit said. Bennahum authorized the transfer of the Readyio GitHub account and more to Martin Cormier, then CTO of Ready Canada.

Ready Gibraltar will pay fees to the plaintiff, issue $AURA/$PLAY tokens to the plaintiff’s stakeholders and adhere to strict confidentiality and security provisions.

But instead of doing so, Ready Makers alleged that the defendant refused to issue tokens and, through its agents and affiliates, illegally controlled the technology and domains, undermining the plaintiff’s business operations and reputation.

Ready Gibraltar planned to hold a token generation event (TGE) on December 10, 2024. Ready US expected that tokens would be issued to Ready US stakeholders. But that did not happen and so Guillot sent a notice of breach of contract to Macedo, terminating her and then reinstating Benahoum as an officer at Ready US. Guillot directed Cormier to re-establish control of the company’s accounts but received no response from Cormier. The passwords to Bennahum’s private accounts were allegedly changed without his permission.

Bennahoum alleged in an affidavit in the lawsuit that Ready Gibraltar created an alias, ThePlay.Network, as a parallel operation. In its own announcement, Macedo stated that Ready US’s Jello and Bennaham were not involved in any capacity in the development of PLAY Code. She noted that Ready Gibraltar raised $7 million without Ready US.

Macedo claimed Ready Canada was not paid after August 2022, but Benahoum said she was paid $306,189.37 between August 1, 2022 and December 1, 2024, and provided information about those payments. Benaham also said he held 40 virtual investor meetings to pre-sell the rights to $PLAY tokens, raising $3.1 million in the effort. One of the deals he arranged was to raise $2 million in a conversation with Aptos CEO Moe Shaikh at an event in South Korea in September 2023.

Ready Makers Inc. claimed Macedo launched a domain on January 1, 2025, that mimics Ready Makers Inc.’s IP address. It alleged that Ready Gibraltar’s entire business relied on property allegedly stolen from Ready Makers Inc.

“It is this intellectual property that creates Ready Gibraltar’s value; without it, Ready Gibraltar would have nothing,” the lawsuit said.

Meanwhile, Macedo’s subsidiary Play issued a press release saying it had created a partnership with Forte, a blockchain gaming company. The deal relates to blockchain transaction payments. But there was no mention of the lawsuit with Ready Makers Inc.