Bored Ape Yacht Club Founders Doxxed By Buzzfeed: NFT Community Rallies In Support And Takes In BAYC Update

The anonymous founders of Bored Ape Yacht Club watched their public identities shared to the world via a Buzzfeed article released on Feb. 4, 2022.

The NFT community has rallied around the founders in support and also are taking in a new company update shared by the founders on what’s to come.

What Happened: An article by Buzzfeed Inc BZFD that questioned whether founders of non-fungible token collections should be able to remain anonymous revealed the identities of Bored Ape Yacht Club founders who go by the pseudonyms “Gordon Goner” and “Gargamel.”

“Its founders’ anonymity raises questions about accountability in the age of crypto,” Buzzfeed Author Katie Notopoulos said.

The author revealed the identities as Greg Solano (32) and Wylie Aronow (35).

Gordon Goner and Gargamel have given several media interviews including with Rolling Stone and the New Yorker and also recently chatted with well-known NFT personality Farokh.

The two founders revealed pictures of themselves on Twitter and started a trend of sharing how people looked in Web2 and Web3.

Got doxxed against my will. Oh well.

Web2 me vs. Web3 me pic.twitter.com/uLkpsJ5LvN

— GordonGoner.eth (@GordonGoner) February 5, 2022

Got doxed so why not. Web2 me vs Web3 me. pic.twitter.com/jfmzo5NtrH

— Garga.eth (@CryptoGarga) February 5, 2022

The Bored Ape Yacht Club and NFT communities have rallied in support around the founders of the project and never appeared to question the anonymity of the group. Many are pointing to the dangers Buzzfeed may have caused by doxing the founders. The founders recently shared why they wanted to remain anonymous.

“There’s a long history of anonymous/pseudonymous founders in crypto, and there are very real reasons why people want to protect their personal privacy in this space,” the founders told Farokh.

The founders said they wanted to gain the trust of the community, which led to the formation of a Delaware LLC, showing they were serious and dedicated.

“We prefer to be judged based on our actions and work. In our view, this is about the club – not us.”

Related Link: Celebrities That Own Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs 

What’s Next: Yuga Labs, the parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club, is rumored to be seeking a $5 billion valuation in a funding round. Andreessen Horowitz is among the parties being linked to the NFT company. Interestingly enough, Horowitz is also an investor in Buzzfeed, which recently completed a SPAC merger.

Over the weekend, Bored Ape Yacht Club shared an update on what’s next for the team.

“Hey apes, meant to get this out last night but it’s been kind of a wild weekend. So here it is finally – BAYC x MAYC mobile game competition leaderboard, Ape Fest Dates and a lil tease,” the team tweeted.

The team shared the results of a mobile game that was playable by owners of Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club. The top 1000 performers from each collection will receive prizes including a pinball machine and a converted 2002 Honda Accord featuring Mutant Ape Yacht Club regalia.

The team also shared dates for the highly anticipated Ape Fest 2022, an event held for owners of NFTs in the Bored Ape collections.

“We’ve locked in a sick venue in downtown Manhattan for four days – June 20th – 23rd,” the article reads.

Last year’s event features a party on a real yacht and a concert that featured exclusive performances from Lil Baby, The Strokes, Beck, Chris Rock and Aziz Ansari.

The team said that Yuga Labs has quadrupled its staff over the past few months and announced three new employees with roles of co-CEO, Chief Creative Officer and Chief Operating Officer in the post.

Perhaps the biggest update in the article was an image showing a 3D ape.

“The header image for this post? That’s something else…Can’t talk about that, Gordo will get mad,” the post reads.

Some have speculated that the image looks straight out of a Super Bowl advertisement, or could be a way for the company to highlight its 3D versions of Bored Apes and Mutant Apes that every holder will get for free.

The image could also highlight an upcoming show or movie, with Yuga Labs previously announcing a talent representation deal with Guy Oseary that could lead to more media opportunities.

Photo: Courtesy of Scott Beale on Flickr