American internet media BuzzFeed News recently shared the identities of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s two main founders as 32-year-old writer Greg Solano, and Wylie Aronow, a 35-year-old originally from Florida. However, both of them are yet to respond to the news.
As per the post, it searched through several public business records revealing the names who go by the pseudonyms “Gordon Goner” and “Gargamel.” Drilling deeper it found put that Yuga Labs, the firm behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, is incorporated in Delaware with an address linked to Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow.
On top of that Yuga Labs CEO, Nicole Muniz confirmed the same to the news media.
BuzzFeed further divulged that they both had literary aspirations, and were crypto enthusiasts, wanting to create some sort of NFT collection. The duo then came up with the idea of rich apes living in a swamp clubhouse, hired a freelance illustrator to draw the monkeys.
They later collaborated with two developers. The identities of the two engineers go by the nicknames “Emperor Tomato Ketchup” and “No Sass,” and remain unknown as of now.
That being said, as NFTs and Web3 continue to go grow, the issue surrounding pseudonymity had brought its share of excitement and skepticism.
Popularity of NFTs like Bored Ape Yacht Club has brought the issue of pseudonymity in focus
Celebrities endorsed NFTs collection such as Bored Ape Yacht Club reaped profits not just from the initial sale of its NFT apes, but also from a 2.5% royalty on future trades. As the value of the asset exploded, the identities of BAYC’s founders have been subjected to intense interest.
However, crypto proponents like Soona Amhaz, a partner at venture capital firm Volt Capital, believe there might be some benefit in maintaining secrecy. Citing the traditional startup domain, the exec noted ‘it frees founders from judgments of their physical appearance, where they went to school, and their social class, gender, or race.’
In the recently reported case by TronWeekly where an anonymous founder of a decentralized finance protocol was exposed as a criminal previously convicted of fraud, Amhaz said the information is already there in the blockchain and just requires someone to ‘piece together the links.’
“It’s an unfamiliar way of doing things and relatively new but I truly believe it will be a meaningful part of the future of work.”
