On the 4th of February 2022, the Bored Ape Yacht Club‘s anonymous founders were doxxed and had their identities revealed to the general public. Their identities were revealed via a publication from Buzzfeeed on the said day.
However, the NFT community has moved to protect and be in support of the founders ever since their identities were revealed. In fact, the NFT community is now taking in the latest company update conveyed by the founders on what the future holds.
What Transpired
Buzzfeed Inc published an article on the 4th of February 2022 questioning if founders of NFT collections should remain anonymous to their communities. Then, Buzzfeed went ahead to reveal the identity of BAYC founders who go by the aliases “Gargamel” and “Gordon Goner.”
According to Katie Notopoulos, the Buzzfeed Author, founders of NFT communities remaining anonymous in this present era of crypto only raised questions about any founder’s accountability. The author then revealed their identities as Wylie Aronow (35), and Greg Solano (32).
Gargamel and Gordon Goner, following the reveal, have granted a number of interviews including with New Yorker and Rolling Stone. The duo has also had an interview with Farokh, one of the prominent and well-recognized NFT personalities. The founders further also went ahead to reveal pictures of themselves on Twitter. They then initiated a trend talking about how individuals looked in Web3 vs Web2.
Meanwhile, the NFT communities and the Bored Ape Yacht Club have been actively supporting the founders since their identities were revealed. In fact, the community-made sure no one questioned the anonymity of the duo as they continued to do their thing. However, many in the NFT communities are emphasizing the possible dangers Buzzfeed may have incited by revealing the identities of the founders.
The founders themselves have also come forward and have explained why they chose to remain anonymous. According to them, the crypto space already has a long history of having pseudonymous/anonymous founders and there are valid reasons for this.
As regards both of them, the duo claim they only wanted to establish trust with their community. They affirmed that was in fact what led to the creation of Delaware LLC to prove they were dedicated and serious about the project. They also noted that they desire to be judged based on their work and actions. They believe that at the end of it all, it was more about the community and not them.
What Comes Next?
The Parent company of BAYC, Yuga Labs, is said to be looking for a $5 billion valuation in a round of funding. The NFT company is believed to share some ties with Andreessen Horowitz who is interestingly also an investor at Buzzfeed.
Just last weekend, an update was published by the BAYC team on what’s next for the firm. According to the news which was published via Twitter, the Ape Fest Dates and leaderboard for the BAYC x MAYC mobile game competition is finally ready.
The team published the results of the mobile game which was exclusive to holders of Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Bored Ape Yacht Club. The first 1000 participants from each collection are said to earn prizes which include;
- A converted 2002 Honda Accord that features a MAYC regalia
- Pinball machine
The team also confirmed the dates for Ape Fest 2022, the highly anticipated yearly event organized for holders of Bored Ape’s NFT collections. According to the article published by the team, the event will be held for four days in downtown Manhattan starting from the 20th to the 23rd of June 2022.