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How Four NFT Novices Created a Billion-Dollar Ecosystem of Cartoon Apes

By Samantha Hissong

Samantha Hissong

J ust last year, the four thirtysomethings behind Bored Ape Yacht Club — a collection of 10,000 NFTs, which house cartoon primates and unlock the virtual world they live in — were living modest lifestyles and working day jobs as they fiddled with creative projects on the side. Now, they’re multimillionaires who made it big off edgy, haphazardly constructed art pieces that also act as membership cards to a decentralized community of madcaps. What’s more punk rock than that?

The phenomenal nature of it all has to do with the recent appearance, all over the internet, of images of grungy apes with unimpressed expressions on their faces and human clothes on their sometimes-multicolored, sometimes-metal bodies. Most of the apes look like characters one might see in a comic about hipsters in Williamsburg — some are smoking and some have pizza hanging from their lips, while others don leather jackets, beanies, and grills. The core-team Apes describe the graffiti-covered bathroom of the club itself — which looks like a sticky Tiki bar — in a way that echoes that project’s broader mission: “Think of it as a collaborative art experiment for the cryptosphere.” As for the pixel-ish walls around the virtual toilet, that’s really just “a members-only canvas for the discerning minds of crypto Twitter,” according to a blurb on the website, which recognizes that it’s probably “going to be full of dicks.”

(Full-disclosure: Rolling Stone just announced a partnership with the Apes and is creating a collectible zine — similar to what the magazine did with Billie Eilish — and NFTs.)

“I always go balls to the wall,” founding Ape Gordon Goner tells Rolling Stone over Zoom. Everything about Goner, who could pass for a weathered 30 or a young 40, screams “frontman,” from his neck tattoo to his sturdy physique to the dark circles under his eyes and his brazen attitude. He’s a risk taker: Back during his gambling-problem days, he admits he’d “kill it at the tables” and then lose it all at the slot machines on the way to the car. He’s also the only one in the group that wasn’t working a normal nine-to-five before the sudden tsunami of their current successes — and that’s because he’s never had a “real job. Not bad for a high school dropout,” he says through a smirk. Although Goner and his comrades’ aesthetic and rapport mirror that of a musical act freshly thrust into stardom, they’re actually the creators of Yuga Labs, a Web3 company. 

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Goner and his partners in creative crime — Gargamel, No Sass, and Emperor Tomato Ketchup — were inspired by the communities of crypto lovers that have blossomed on platforms like Twitter in recent years. Clearly, people with this once-niche interest craved a destination to gather, discuss blockchain-related developments, and hurl the most inside of inside jokes. Why not, they thought, give NFT collectors their own official home? And Bored Ape Yacht Club was born.

This summer, 101 of Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club tokens, which were first minted in early May, resold for $24.4 million in an auction hosted by the fine-art house Sotheby’s. Competitor Christie’s followed shortly thereafter, auctioning off an art collectors’ haul of modern-day artifacts — which included four apes — for $12 million. Around the same time, one collector bought a single token directly from OpenSea — kind of like eBay for NFTs — for $2.65 million. A few weeks later, another Sotheby’s sale set a new auction record for the most-valuable single Bored Ape ever sold: Ape number 8,817 went for $3.4 million. At press time, tokens related to the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem — this includes the traditional apes, but also things called “mutant” apes and the apes’ pets — had generated around $1 billion. “My name’s not even Gordon,” says Goner, who, like the rest of Yuga Labs’ inner circle, chooses to hide his true identity behind a quirky pseudonym. “Gordon Goner just sounded like Joey Ramone. And that made it sound like I was in a band called the Goners. I thought that was fucking cool. But when we first started, I kept asking, ‘Are we the Beastie Boys of NFTs?’ Because, right after our initial success it felt like the Beastie Boys going on tour with Madonna: Everyone was like, ‘Who the fuck are these kids?’ ” (Funnily enough, Madonna’s longtime manager, Guy Oseary, signed on to rep the foursome about a month after Goner made this comment to Rolling Stone .) He’s referring to the commotion that immediately followed the first few days of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s existence, when sales were dismal. “Things were moving so slowly in that weeklong presale,” recalls Goner’s more soft-spoken colleague, Emperor Tomato Ketchup. “I think we made something between $30,000 and $60,000 total in sales. And then, overnight, it exploded. All of us were like, ‘Oh fuck, this is real now.’ ” The 10,000 tokens — each originally priced at 0.08 Ethereum (ETH), around $300 — had sold out. While the crypto community may have been asking who they were, the general public started wondering what all the fuss was about. Even Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry started using his ape as his Twitter profile picture, for all of his 15.5 million followers to behold. 

Bored Ape art isn’t as valuable as it is because it’s visually pleasing, even though it is. It’s valuable because it also serves as a digital identity — for which its owner receives commercial usage rights, meaning they can sell any sort of spinoff product based on the art. The tokens, meanwhile, act like ID cards that give the owners access to an online Soho House of sorts — just a nerdier, more buck-wild one. Noah Davis, who heads up Christie’s online sales department for digital art, says that it’s the “perennial freebies and perks” that solidify the Bored Ape Yacht Club as “one of the most rewarding and coveted memberships.” “In the eyes of most — if not almost all of the art community — BAYC is completely misunderstood,” he says. However, within other tribes of pop culture, he continues, hugely prominent figures cherish the idea of having a global hub for some of the most “like-minded, tech-savvy, and forward-thinking individuals on the planet.” Gargamel is “a name I ridiculously gave myself based off the fact that my fiancée had never seen The Smurfs when we were launching this,” says Goner’s right-hand man, who looks kind of like a cross between the character he named himself after and an indie-music-listening liberal-arts school alum. He’s flabbergasted at the unexpected permanence of it all. “Now, I meet with CEOs of billion-dollar companies, and I’m like, ‘Hi, I’m Gargamel. What is it that you would like to speak to me about?’ ” 

The gang bursts out in laughter.

In conversing, Gargamel and Goner, whose relationship is the connective tissue that brought the others in, are mostly playful — but they do bicker, similar to how a frontman and lead guitarist might butt heads in learning to share the spotlight. They first met in their early twenties at a dive bar, in Miami, where they were both born and raised, and immediately started arguing about books. “He doesn’t like David Foster Wallace because he’s wrong about things,” Goner interjects, cheekily, as Gargamel attempts to tell their story. “He hasn’t even read Infinite Jest . He criticizes him, and yet he’s never read the book! He’s like, ‘Oh, it’s pretentious MFA garbage.’ No, it’s not.” Gargamel then points out that he has read other books by Wallace, while No Sass, who still hasn’t chimed in, flashes a half-smile that suggests they’ve been down this road more than once before. “I think, on the whole, he was the worst thing to happen to fucking MFA programs, given all the things people were churning out,” says Gargamel. They eventually decide to agree that Wallace, like J.D. Salinger, isn’t always interpreted correctly or taught well, and we move on — only after Goner points out the tattoos he got for Kurt Vonnegut and Charles Bukowski “at like 17,” but before diving too deep into postmodernist concepts. Goner and Gargamel’s relationship speaks to how the group operates as a whole, according to No Sass, whose name is self-explanatory. “There’s always a yin and yang going on,” he says. Throughout the call, No Sass continues to make sense of things and keep the others in check in an unwavering manner, positioning him as the backbone of the group — or our metaphorical drummer. “It’s like, I’ll come up with the idea that wins us the game,” Goner says, referencing his casino-traversing past. “And his job is to make sure we make it to the car park.” No Sass’ rhythm-section counterpart is clearly Tomato, the pseudo-band’s secret weapon who’s loaded with talent and harder to read. (He picked his name while staring at an album of the same name by English-French band Stereolab.) The project’s name, Bored Ape Yacht Club, represents a club for people who got rich quick by “aping in” — crypto slang for investing big in something unsure — and, thusly, are too bored to do anything but create memes and debate about analytics. The “yacht” part is coated in satire, given that the digital clubhouse the apes congregate in was designed to look like a dive bar in the swampy Everglades. 

Gargamel, whose college roommate started mining Bitcoin back in 2010, got Goner into crypto in 2017, when the latter was bedridden with an undisclosed illness, bored, and on his phone. “I knew he had a risk-friendly profile,” Gargamel says. “I said, ‘I’m throwing some money into some stupid shit here. You wanna get in this with me?’ He immediately took to it so hard, and we rode that euphoric wave of 2017 crypto up — and then cried all the way down the other side of the roller coaster.” At the start of 2021, they looked at modern relics like CryptoPunks and Hashmasks, which have both become a sort of cultural currency, and they looked at “crypto Twitter,” and wondered what would happen if they combined the collectible-art component with community membership via gamification. The idea was golden but they weren’t technologically savvy enough to know how to build the back end. So, Gargamel called up No Sass and Tomato, who both studied computer science at the same university he had attended for grad school. “I had no idea what was involved in the code for this,” Gargamel admits. “I read something that said something about Javascript, so I called them and said, ‘Do you guys know anything about Javascript?’ And that couldn’t be further from what you’re supposed to know.” While they were tech-savvy, No Sass and Tomato were not crypto-savvy. They both wrote their first lines of solidity code — a language for smart contracts — in February of this year. “I was like, ‘Just learn it! It’s going to be great. Let’s go,’ ” recalls Gargamel. “From a technical perspective, some of the stuff that we’ve built out has had relatively janky workflows, which people then seize upon, asking us how we did it,” says Tomato. “It’s actually stake-and-wire or whatever, but nobody else has done it.” A lot of “stress and fear” went into the first drop, according to No Sass: “We were constantly on the phone going, ‘Oh, shit, is this OK? Is it going to explode?’ ” He shakes his head. “I wish we still had simple NFT drops. We can pump those out superfast now.” “Every single thing we do scares the shit out of me,” adds Tomato.

They started out with unsharpened goals of capitalizing on a very clear trend. But a fter one particularly enervating night of incessant spitballing, Goner realized that all he really wanted was something to do and for like-minded people to talk to in an immersive, fantastical world. Virtual art was enticing, but it needed to do something too. “We’d see these NFT collections that didn’t have any utility,” Goner says. “That didn’t make any sense to me at the time, because you can cryptographically verify who owns these things. Why wouldn’t you offer some sort of utility?”

Gargamel told him the next day he loved the clubhouse idea so much that he’d want to do it even if it was a failure. They realized they just craved “a hilarious story to tell 10 years later,” Gargamel says. “I figured we’d say, ‘Yeah, we spent 40 grand and six months making a club for apes, but it didn’t go anywhere.’ And that’s how we actually started having fun in the process.” Goner chimes in: “Because at least we could say, ‘This is how we spent our summer. How ridiculous is that? We made the Bored Ape Yacht Club, and it was a total disaster.’ ”  Gargamel interjects to remind everyone that Tomato ended up reacting to their springtime victory by buying a Volvo, the memory of which incites another surge of laughter. They haven’t indulged in too many lavish purchases since then, but they all ordered Pelotons, Tomato bought a second Volvo, and they all paid their moms back for supporting them in becoming modern-day mad scientists. “I’ll never forget the night that we sold out,” says No Sass. “It was like two or three in the morning, and I hear my phone ring. I see that it’s Tomato and think something has gone terribly wrong. I pick up the phone and he’s like, ‘Dude, you need to wake up right now. We just made a million dollars.’ ” Nansen, a company that tracks blockchain analytics, reported that for one night Bored Ape Yacht Club had the most-used smart contract on Ethereum. “That’s absurd,” says Gargamel. “Uniswap [a popular network of decentralized finance apps] does billions and billions of transactions. But for that one night, we took over the world.” At press time, the foursome — let’s just go ahead and call them the Goners — had personally generated about $22 million from the secondary market alone. “Every time I talk to my parents about how this has blown up, they literally do not know what to say,” adds Tomato, whose mom started crying when he first explained what had happened.

Since its opening, the group has created pets for the apes via the Bored Ape Kennel Club, as well as the Mutant Ape Yacht Club. The latter was launched to expand the community to interested individuals who weren’t brave enough to “ape in” at the beginning: Yuga Labs unleashed 10,000 festering, bubbling, and/or oozing apes — complete with missing limbs and weird growths — via a surprise Dutch auction, which was used to deter bots from snatching up inventory by starting at a maximum price and working its way down. With a starting price of 3 ETH — or about $11,000 — this move opened up the playing field for about an hour, which is how long it took for the mutants to sell out. (The team also randomly airdropped 10,000 “serums,” which now pop up on OpenSea for tens of thousands of dollars, for pre-existing Apes to “drink” and thusly create zombified clones.) When they sold 500 tangible hats to ape-holders in June, the guys spent days packaging products in Gargamel’s mom’s backyard in Florida. “Immediately, some of them sold for thousands of dollars,” Gargamel exclaims. “It was a $25 hat. We were like, ‘Holy shit, we can be a Web3 streetwear brand. What does that even look like?’ ”

But the team is still searching for ways to create more value by building even more doors that the tokens can unlock. They recently surprised collectors with a treasure hunt; the winner received 5 ETH — worth more than $16,000 at press time — and another ape. And on Oct. 1, they announced the first annual Ape Fest, which runs from Oct. 31 through Nov. 6 and includse an in-person gallery party, yacht party, warehouse party, merch pop-up, and charity dinner in New York. Goner tells Rolling Stone that they’re currently discussing partnership ideas with multiple musical acts, but he refuses to reveal additional details in fear of jinxing things. Further down the line, the Goners see a future of interoperability, so that collectors can upload their apes into various corners of the metaverse: Hypothetically, an ape could appear inside a popular video game like Fortnite , and the user could dress it in digital versions of Bored Ape Yacht Club merch. “We want to encourage that as much as possible,” says Gargamel. “We’re making three-dimensional models of everybody’s ape now. But, y’know, making 10,000 perfect models takes a little bit of time.” At the start of the year, the guys had no idea their potentially disastrous idea would become a full-time job. They were working 14 hours a day to get the project up and running, and after the big drop, they decided to up that to 16 hours a day. “None of us have really slept in almost seven months now,” says Goner. “We’re teetering on burnout.” To avoid that, Yuga Labs has already put a slew of artists on staff and hired social media managers and Discord community managers, as well as a CFO. “We want to be a Web3 lifestyle company,” says Goner, who emphasizes that they’re still growing. “I’m a metaverse maximalist at this point. I think that Ready Player One experience is really on the cusp of happening in this world.” If Bored Ape Yacht Club is essentially this band of brothers’ debut album, there’s really no telling what their greatest hits will look like.

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• Internet Culture

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs Explained

This collection of 10,000 cartoon apes has become the poster child of NFTs. Right now, the cheapest you can buy one for is $150,000.

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs cost $190 at launch last April. Now they go for over $400,000.

NFTs have been around for five years, but the nonfungible token boom only truly began in 2021. It coincided almost perfectly with the launch of Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 cartoon ape NFTs that's come to embody the whole industry. BAYC has over the past year become a bellwether for NFTs, just like bitcoin is for the crypto market at large. 

When NFTs were at their hottest, in April , the entry price for Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs was $400,000. Following the crypto crash, caused by the Federal Reserve's hiking of inflation rates to tackle inflation , that's fallen closer to $150,000. Far from the all-time-high, but insane considering these NFTs sold for about $200 apiece last April. 

You've probably seen a BAYC, even if you didn't realize you were looking at one.

Bored Ape owners currently using their NFT as a Twiter profile picture include Timbaland (1.6 million followers), Eminem (22.6 million followers) and footballer Neyman Jr. (55 million followers). Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton are also BAYC holders, discussing their Apes in a (cringey) Tonight Show segment . Justin Bieber made headlines with his purchase of a $1.29 million Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT in February. 

In June, Eminem and Snoop Dogg released a video clip in which the rappers are depicted by their respective Bored Apes . 

Name my ape! Drop your suggestions below 👇 @BoredApeYC #BAYC #BoredApeYachtClub #NFTs pic.twitter.com/pwFynGy9QJ — jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) November 17, 2021

BREAKING: @Eminem just bought BAYC #9055 for 123.45 ETH ($461,868.42) WELCOME to the BAYC 🤗 pic.twitter.com/UvQFntDa8Q — m0rgan.ethᵍᵐ 💎🙆🏼‍♀️🆘 (@Helloimmorgan) December 31, 2021

Yuga Labs, the company behind the NFT collection, has already expanded the ecosystem to include a cryptocurrency (Ape Coin). More importantly, it's developing a "metaverse" MMORPG game called "Otherside." People holding Bored Ape NFTs are betting that the brand will completely break through and go mainstream. Already it's collaborated with brands like Adidas and Gucci, and last year a Bored Ape  graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine . 

Like everything else to do with NFTs, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is contentious. Apes inspire jealousy among those who own and trade NFT art but confusion and suspicion among people who don't. Their value is instrinsically tied to ether, the second biggest cryptocurrency. That means NFTs like BAYC are likely to lose their lustre if crypto collapses -- something critics have prophesized for years. 

Here's what you need to know about the collection.

10 of the 10,000 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. Each has different attributes, some rarer than others, that makes them unique. 

Wait, what are NFTs again?

NFT is short for nonfungible token. These are tokens verify ownership on the blockchain. In essence, an NFT is like a certificate of authenticity for a fancy watch or the deed to a house. It certifies that the digital asset -- in this case a cartoon picture of an ape -- is legitimate, and denotes who the owner is.

The most ubiquitous criticism of NFTs is that they're useless because pictures can simply be right-clicked and saved for free. The point of NFT technology is that it makes public who the owner of an asset is. The idea is that anyone can buy a Mona Lisa print for a few bucks, but only one person or institution can own the original. Everyone in the world can save a BAYC jpeg on their computer, but only one person can own the NFT. 

Whether that makes NFTs valuable is a judgement call. Some people think they'll revolutionize the internet, at last allowing digital goods to be bought and sold like real-world, physical products. Others think they're an environmentally-costly ponzi scheme. 

Why are there 10,000 Bored Apes?

Broadly speaking, there are two types of NFT art. First, you have one-off visuals that are sold as non-fungible tokens, just like paintings in real life. Think the  Beeple NFTs that were sold at Christie's for as high as $69 million. Second, you have NFT collections like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which are mostly designed to be used as profile pictures on social media. The latter have become the dominant style, where most of the money is spent. 

Pioneered by CryptoPunks in 2017, NFT collections are a little like Pokemon cards. You have a set amount -- usually between 5,000 and 10,000 -- which all have the same template, but each has different attributes that make them unique. In the case of BAYC, there are 10,000 apes, each with varying fur types, facial expressions, clothing, accessories and more. Each attribute has a rarity component, which makes some much more valuable than others. 

These properties are displayed on OpenSea, the main platform where NFTs are traded. On any given NFT's page, its properties will be listed as well as the percentage of NFTs in the collection that share the property. Usually, anything under 1% is considered rare. For instance out of 10,000 apes only 46 have solid gold fur, making these particularly valuable.

Each NFT has traits which are ranked by rarity, making some more valuable than others. 

As noted, the "floor price" for the project -- what you'll pay for an ape with common traits -- is currently about $150,000 (85 ether). Apes with the golden fur trait are rare, and so sell for much more. One sold in January for $1.3 million . Another  with gold fur and laser eyes , two sub-1% traits, went for $3 million.

BAYC is the biggest NFT project of this kind, recently eclipsing CryptoPunks , which is credited as the first "pfp" (profile picture) collections. Other notable sets include CyberKongz, Doodles and Cool Cats .

What makes Bored Ape Yacht Club valuable?

This is a complicated question. The short answer is that they're status symbols , and like all status symbols their value comes from perception and branding rather than utility. Just like a CEO may try to communicate business acumen with a Rolex or a luxury suit, people who trade NFTs display their success with a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT. Their argument is that NFTs are better status symbols than real-world items, since when used as profile pictures they can be seen by millions of people on Twitter and Instagram.

Let's start at the beginning. Bored Ape Yacht Club was launched last April. It took 12 hours for all 10,000 to sell out at a price of $190 (0.08 ether). The price of Bored Ape NFTs rose steadily until July, when they spiked dramatically and the collection became a blue-chip set.

What makes an NFT collection successful is highly subjective. Broadly, it's a mix of four things: Influencer or celebrity involvement, mainstream potential, utility for members and community appeal.

The first and second are obvious. When famous people own an NFT, it makes others want to own one too. When celebrities like Jimmy Fallon and Justin Bieber bought into Bored Ape, it caused a run in sales and hype -- and hype is what the NFT market is all about. People buying into BAYC today, at a steep price of over $150,000, are likely to believe that the brand could one day adorn more than celebrity social media accounts: Netflix shows, popular games and Hollywood movies are the goal. 

Thirdly, utility. Most NFT projects claim to offer a utility of some sort, which means it does something other than act as a profile picture. That can be access to play-to-earn games or the option to stake an NFT in exchange for an associated cryptocurrency. 

Bored Ape Yacht Club has done a few things to keep owners interested. First, it created the Bored Ape Kennel Club , offering owners the opportunity to "adopt" a dog NFT with traits that mimic those of the Bored Apes. Another freebie came in August of 2021: Digital vials of mutant serum. Owners could mix their Bored Ape with the serum to create a Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT (see below). 

The advent of this second collection last August is when the Bored Ape brand really popped. Seen as doing innovative things with NFT technology, and coinciding with a huge amount of money entering the space that month, Bored Ape Yacht Club started to be seen as the premiere NFT brand. 

Both Kennel Club and Mutant Ape NFTs now sell for a lot. The Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection entry point is about $30,000, while Bored Ape Kennel Clubs are selling for about half that. (Remember, these were free to BAYC holders.)

A Bored Ape and its Mutant Ape counterpart. 

Last but not least is the community that's built around a collection. NFTs double as membership cards to holder groups. The more valuable people find belonging to that community, the less they'll want to sell their NFT. Bored Ape Yacht Club has organized meetups in New York and California, and there have been Bored Ape get-togethers in Hong Kong and the UK, too. This past June, BAYC holders were treated to "Ape Fest", a festival that included performances from Eminem, Snoop Dogg, LCD Soundsystem and Amy Schumer.

But "community value" also extends to financial self interest. The higher the floor price on a collection, the more crypto-rich traders you can expect to be holders. These savvy investors trade information within locked Discord groups, providing valuable (sometimes insanely valuable) tips to one another. Sell your NFT and you'll no longer be privvy to such tips. 

Eminem is the latest celebrity to flaunt a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT as a social media profile picture.

Who's behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club?

The Bored Ape Yacht Club was developed by Yuga Labs. At the time, Yuga Labs consisted of four people, all of whom went by pseudonyms. There's Gordon Goner and Gargamel, who are the two co-founders, and two friends who helped on the development side, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup.

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

Seems like the cat is out of the bag anyway, so... Hi, I'm Kerem 👋🍅 web2 me vs. web3 me pic.twitter.com/v7i4JDCTlc — EmperorTomatoKetchup (@TomatoBAYC) February 8, 2022

Welp, here we go... Hey, I'm Zeshan. Nice to meet y'all (: Web2 me vs. Web3 me pic.twitter.com/0AnqurQ1el — Sass (@SassBAYC) February 8, 2022

All four went exclusively by their pseudonyms until February, when BuzzFeed reported the identities of Gordon Goner and Gargamel. Gargamel is Greg Solano, a writer and book critic, and Gordon Goner is 35-year-old Wylie Aronow. Both went on to post pictures of themselves on Twitter alongside their Bored Apes. Following that, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Sass both "doxxed" themselves -- that is, revealed their identity -- by doing the same. 

The actual art was created by freelance artist Seneca , who's not part of Yuga Labs. 

What's next?

Yuga Labs has big plans for its Bored Ape Yacht Club brand, plans that are both on- and offchain. (That is, both on the blockchain and in the real world.)

Start with more blockchain stuff. In March, Yuga Labs released Ape Coin, its own cryptocurrency. All Bored Ape holders were airdropped just over 10,000 Ape Coins at launch, worth around $100,000 at the time (now about $70,000). Ape Coin will be the primary currency in Otherside, the metaverse Yuga Labs is building .

Metaverses are big, virtual spaces shared by hundreds or thousands of people at a time. They've existed for a long time, think Second Life or even Fortnite. Blockchain-integrated metaverses are different only in the sense that the land, building and items within the world are owned by users as NFTs. Yuga Labs has already sold land for the metaverse, making over $300 million in just a few hours of sales .

Out in the physical world, the Bored Apes are integrating themselves into fashion. Adidas launched its first NFT project, Into The Metaverse, in collaboration with several NFT brands, Bored Ape Yacht Club chief among them. Collaborations between Adidas and BAYC on both virtual and physical clothing are coming soon. 

Adidas is also a member of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. 

The Bored Ape Yacht Club brand has popped up in other industries too. Literally in the case of food: A pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles was recently turned into a permanent burger spot. In January, a mobile game, Apes vs. Mutants , launched on both the App Store and Google's Play Store. (Reviews have been unkind.) Another mobile game is in production , scheduled for Q2. Bored Ape figurines by Super Plastic are on the way too.

More unusual, though, is what people are doing with their apes. Owning a Bored Ape NFT gives you full commercial rights to it, and holders are taking advantage of that in some creative ways. One Bored Ape owner set up a Twitter account for his ape where he created a backstory, turning him into Jenkins, a valet that works for the Yacht Club. Jenkins is now signed to a real-world agency, and has a biography written by New York Times bestseller Neil Strauss . Universal Music Group has invested by  signing a band consisting of three Bored Apes and one Mutant Ape . 

You might think NFTs are silly -- and terrible for the environment -- but don't expect the Bored Apes to disappear anytime soon.

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What Is Bored Ape Yacht Club?

• Understanding BAYC
• The BAYC Team
• BAYC's High Value
• More Than an NFT

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Bored Ape Yacht Club

Erika Rasure is globally-recognized as a leading consumer economics subject matter expert, researcher, and educator. She is a financial therapist and transformational coach, with a special interest in helping women learn how to invest.

Bored Ape Yacht Club, popularly called BAYC, is a collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain . These NFTs are graphical representations of cartoon-like apes that are distinctive by their metadata, which includes the characters’ backgrounds, earrings, clothes, fur, and eyes. Metadata for NFTs is information about and descriptions of a token that the NFT creator supplies.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club, which was launched in 2021, is similar to pieces of artwork sold physically. However, these pieces exist only digitally and are one of a kind because they live on the blockchain (which allows ownership).

Key Takeaways

• Bored Ape Yacht Club is a non-fungible token (NFT) collection of 10,000 cartoon-like apes.
• At launch, each Bored Ape Yacht Club token cost 0.08 Ether (ETH), or $220; by mid-October 2022, they cost 76 ETH, or approximately $100,418.
• BAYC was developed in April 2021 by Yuga Labs, whose founders use the pseudonyms Gordon Goner and Gargamel.
• Rarity, utilities, and celebrity endorsement drive the high price of the BAYC collection. 
• BAYC is considered a status symbol, and celebrities like NBA star Stephen Curry, singers Eminem and Snoop Dogg, and late-night show host Jimmy Fallon own one.

Understanding Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)

The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT was launched in 2021 at the pinnacle of the cryptocurrency bull market. BAYC has flourished among other notable NFTs, including CryptoKitties and CryptoPunks.

When launched, a BAYC cost 0.08 Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum platform. That was equivalent to $220 at the time. It sold out within 12 hours. By mid-October 2022, it had climbed to a “floor price” of 76 ETH, or approximately $100,418.

A floor price refers to the minimum cost of an NFT within a collection. The dollar value of BAYC is subject to the price of Ether—if ETH rises, the value of the NFTs within this collection takes off. BAYC’s trading volume on Oct. 14, 2022, according to NFT marketplace OpenSea, was 673,000 ETH.

BAYC has garnered interest from celebrities, who purchased the NFTs at inflated prices. Some high-profile stars who flaunt their BAYC include “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, who bought Bored Ape #599; NBA champions Steph Curry and Shaquille O’Neal; singers Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Justin Bieber; and world-class soccer player Neymar Jr.

In a historic moment in September 2021, Sotheby’s , one of the world’s largest auction houses, closed its online auction for 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs at $24.4 million.

The Team Behind BAYC

Yuga Labs developed the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The Yuga Labs team comprises four pseudonymous core members: Gordon Goner and Gargamel (co-founders), No Sass, and Emperor Tomato Ketchup, who handled the technical aspects of BAYC.

They appeared under these pseudonyms in the early days of the launch. But BuzzFeed’s revelation of the co-founders’ identities in February 2022 led the other two core members to also give up their incognito status and post pictures of themselves on X (formerly Twitter).

On March 11, 2022, Yuga Labs acquired the intellectual property for rival NFT collections CryptoPunks and Meebits, giving it ownership of the brand and logo of each of those NFT collections. CryptoPunks is one of the earliest NFT projects. It was among the most valued NFT collections on the NFT marketplace OpenSea, with a trading volume of 1 million ETH before it got delisted in February 2022 for a copyright violation.

In a fundraising round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, the Yuga Labs team raised $450 million. In March 2022, it was reported to be valued at $4 billion. Yuga Labs planned to use the capital to expand its activities and accelerate brand growth.

Other NFT collections that Yuga Labs started are Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC)—a spinoff of BAYC—and Bored Ape Kennel Club. Both were trading at volumes of 457,000 ETH and 110,000 ETH, respectively, on OpenSea in mid-October 2022.

What Makes BAYC Valuable?

Whether the Bored Ape collection is truly worth millions of dollars has been hotly debated. Some believe the high valuations are simply based on speculation. But, in fact, rarity, celebrity endorsements, and utilities and perks have driven the collection’s value up.

The array of BAYC’s unique traits and accessories are used to measure its value. The term “rarity” gauges how unusual an NFT is within a collection with an assigned number. In the BAYC collection, there are more than 160 traits, and each ape may have four to seven trait categories. These traits are background, clothes, earrings, eyes, fur, hat, and mouth.

The most expensive Bored Ape in the collection, BAYC #8817, was auctioned in October 2021 for $3.4 million on Sotheby’s Metaverse marketplace, an online platform dedicated to rare and extraordinary NFTs. BAYC #8817 had the Solid Gold Fur trait—making it a relatively rare variety of the NFT. Other characteristics of the #8817 token are the Silver Hoop Earrings and the Wool Turtleneck.

Celebrity Endorsement

BAYC has enticed several celebrities and brands to own pieces of its NFT collection. Adidas is one of the brands contributing to the hype surrounding the NFT collection. Adidas launched “Into the Metaverse,” its native digital collectible, in partnership with Bored Ape Yacht Club, Gmoney, and PUNKS Comic.

Following the partnership launch, BAYC uploaded an image of a Bored Ape wearing an Adidas jacket on X. Gmoney tweeted a silhouette picture that displayed the Adidas logo. PUNKS Comic tweeted a picture of a character wearing a shirt bearing the Adidas logo.

Other celebrities, beyond those already mentioned, who bought BAYC include billionaire Mark Cuban, prominent X personality and DJ Steve Aoki, X personalities and musicians Post Malone and Mike Shinoda, and producer and songwriter Timbaland.

Utilities and Perks 

One of the distinctive features of the Bored Ape NFT, compared with other NFT collections, is its utilities. Owners of Bored Apes have exclusive access to a private Discord group where they chat, network, and build relationships with other Bored Ape members, including celebrities who own a Bored Ape. Ape holders also have access to “The Bathroom,” letting them make a drawing every 15 minutes on a virtual bathroom wall that acts as a community board.

Some utilities that have made BAYC attractive include ApeCoin, ApeCoin DAO, and upcoming metaverse games and events. ApeCoin is the official currency for the Bored Ape ecosystem and is used to purchase BAYC’s merchandise, event tickets, and more. ApeCoin DAO is a decentralized autonomous organization whose members—every ApeCoin holder—govern the DAO’s treasury and decide on future projects by voting on proposals.

Overall, owning a Bored Ape is considered a status symbol among many individuals. That's another key reason for the steady rise in its price since its launch.

The exclusivity that comes with the token’s perks makes Bored Ape Yacht Club much more valuable in price than many other NFTs.

BAYC Is More Than a NFT Collection

In March 2022, BAYC launched ApeCoin and adopted it as the official currency for the BAYC ecosystem. Shortly thereafter, ApeCoin was distributed to BAYC NFT holders. As mentioned, with ApeCoin, holders can participate in the governing process and engage the Bored Ape ecosystem. The ApeCoin DAO members will chair further development on the team’s road map, including creating blockchain games, hosting virtual events in the metaverse , and introducing physical products.

In December 2021, the Bored Ape Yacht Club partnered with Animoca, a blockchain gaming firm, to launch a play-to-earn game using the BAYC NFT. Animoca has designed some popular play-to-earn games , such as The Sandbox, and is valued at more than $5 billion.

Also, via the aforementioned partnership with BAYC, Adidas plans to cast a 3D Bored Ape character in its upcoming metaverse game. The goal is to foster 3D interaction among internet users through collectibles .

Is It Possible to Lose a Bored Ape Yacht Club Non-Fungible Token?

Yes. Several Bored Apes have been stolen through fraudulent hacks. In April 2022, the official Instagram account and Discord server of Bored Ape Yacht Club were hacked, and a phishing link was posted on both BAYC platforms. Hackers stole about 30 Bored Ape tokens from owners who approved a transfer using a fake “mint” link. Outside of potential hacks, however, it is increasingly challenging to lose a Bored Ape NFT.

How Can I Buy a Bored Ape Token?

To buy a Bored Ape token and be part of the exclusive club, visit a platform where the BAYC collection is listed, such as OpenSea. Connect a compatible Ethereum wallet to the marketplace. Once that’s done, search “Bored Ape Yacht Club,” filter out the ape of your choice, and place an order. If the order is confirmed, the ownership of the ape will be transferred to you.

Are Bored Apes Losing Value?

The value of Bored Apes, like most NFTs, is tied to the crypto market’s condition. In a bear market , where prices of crypto assets steadily decline, it’s expected that the value of Bored Apes will follow the same pattern. But if crypto market sentiment is bullish, then Bored Apes’ value will probably rise above the current floor price.

BAYC has evolved into more than a profile-picture (PFP) NFT. It has set a new standard and pace for other NFT collections with the various utilities it has added and plans to add to its collection. Yuga Labs has introduced products built on the blockchain as well as physical products attached to the Bored Ape collection.

OpenSea. “ Bored Ape Yacht Club .”

X. “ @BoredApeYC: Apr. 23, 2021 .”

Yuga Labs. “ Let’s Make a NFT .”

Decrypt. “ The Biggest Celebrity NFT Owners in the Bored Ape Yacht Club .”

Sotheby’s. “ Samsung’s State-of-the-Art 98 Inch Neo QLED TV on View at Sotheby’s .”

BuzzFeed News. “ We Found the Real Names of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Pseudonymous Founders .”

X. “ @TomatoBAYC: Feb. 8, 2022 .”

X. “ @SassBAYC: Feb. 8, 2022 .”

X. “ @yugalabs: Mar. 11, 2022 .”

OpenSea. “ CryptoPunks .”

OpenSea. “ Mutant Ape Yacht Club .”

OpenSea. “ Bored Ape Kennel Club .”

X. “ @Sothebysverse: Oct. 26, 2021 .”

X. “ @BoredApeYC: Nov. 28, 2021 .”

X. “ @gmoneyNFT: Nov. 28, 2021 .”

ApeCoin. “ ApeCoin Is for the Web3 Economy .”

Animoca Brands. “ Bored Ape Yacht Club and Animoca Brands Join Forces to Make Blockchain NFT Game .”

Animoca Brands. “ Animoca Brands Raises US$358,888,888 at Over US$5B Valuation to Grow the Open Metaverse .”

Adidas. “ Into the Metaverse: Let's Go .”

X. “ @BoredApeYC: Apr. 25, 2022 .”

CoinDesk. “ NFTs Stolen After Bored Ape Yacht Club Instagram, Discord Hacked .”

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Bored Ape Yacht Club: What Is It & Why Are They So Expensive?

How can an ape's digital caricature fetch almost half a million dollars in value? This is what it is and why it commands such a price.

Despite the numerous explanations that have flooded the internet since its introduction, most people are still baffled by Web 3.0 and NFTs.

It doesn't help that the industry is rife with preposterous purchases, such as Eminem's roughly $460,000 purchase of a cartoon ape. This ape is one of 10,000 in an NFT collection called the Bored Ape Yacht Club.

Naturally, you probably have a lot of questions. What on earth is the Bored Ape Yacht Club? Why is a cartoon so expensive? Is this another financial bubble masquerading as innovation? Well, we have answers. Let's dig in.

What Is the Bored Ape Yacht Club?

Bored Apes are a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs based on the Ethereum blockchain. The Bored Apes are grungy simian avatars with different characteristics—some rarer than others. For example, only 5% of Bored Apes have red fur, and 3% have a biker vest. The rarer the traits of a Bored Ape, the more expensive it's likely to be.

As is the case with all NFTs, the Bored Ape is not the asset itself—instead, it's a kind of certificate of ownership or, in this case, a passkey. If you're new to NFT purchases, find out what you actually own when you buy an NFT .

Bored Apes are the cornerstone of an elite movement called, you guessed it, the Bored Apes Yacht Club. Your Bored Ape doubles as your Yacht Club membership card and grants access to members-only benefits—the first of which is THE BATHROOM, a community drawing board where Bored Ape owners can leave digital graffiti. Bored Ape ownership also comes with access to a private Discord server where you can hang out and chat with other owners.

All the Bored Apes were initially available on a first-come, first-served basis and were priced the same—0.8 ETH or about $190 at release. But, because they all sold out quickly, they are now available on the secondary market OpenSea , which is like eBay for NFTs. As of writing, the floor price for an Ape on OpenSea is 108 ETH, or about $368,000.

Who's Behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club?

The Bored Ape Yacht Club was created by four founders via their company Yuga Labs, in 2021. The founders go by cartoonish pseudonyms: Gargamel, Gordon Goner, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and No Sass. Or at least they did until February 2022, when BuzzFeed revealed the identities of Gordon Goner and Gargamel.

It turns out Gargamel is Greg Solano, a writer and book critic, and Gordon Goner is 35-year-old Wylie Aronow. Both went on to reveal their true identities on Twitter alongside their Bored Apes. Following that, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and No Sass went ahead and did the same.

Per a Rolling Stone interview , the founders drew inspiration for BAYC from modern NFT OGs like CryptoPunks, which have become a sort of cultural currency. Like Bored Apes, CryptoPunks are also a 10,000-strong collection of unique NFT avatars, and they also cost a fortune—with one selling for a whopping $11.7 million. If you haven't already, catch up with news about CryptoPunks and why they're so expensive.

For BAYC, the plan was to combine the collectible-art component of NFTs with community membership, essentially giving NFT ownership some utility beyond just being cult symbols of crypto cool kids.

Why Are Bored Apes So Expensive?

To the most pressing question of all: why do Bored Apes cost so much? Even the most exclusive club memberships in the US do not cost $368k. What's the fuss about? Let's see.

Bored Ape art is not only valuable because it serves as a digital identity—but also because of the accompanying commercial usage rights. Not only can Bored Ape owners re-sell the NFT for a profit, but they can also sell spinoff products based on the art.

One Bored Ape owner set up a Twitter account for his ape , spinning an entire backstory where the ape is Jenkins, a valet at the Yacht Club. Jenkins is personable, crypto-savvy, and tells amazing stories—it's the perfect combo for a successful Twitter account.

Jenkins' story is made all the more endearing by the fact that he was the cheapest ape in the collection, which influenced his character as a valet. On a basic level, people are drawn to the classic "rise of the underdog" story.

In September 2021, Jenkins was signed to a real-life agency to explore publishing opportunities across books, podcasts, films, TV, and more. He'll also have his own biography, written in part by New York Times bestselling author Neil Strauss.

Jenkins' owners are creating a sort of sub-BAYC community by allowing users to buy NFTs that serve as rights to vote on the creative direction of Jenkin's first book release. It's essentially a massive community project, except in this case, people are paying to participate.

The potential for opportunities like this drives up the value of a Bored Ape.

Brands have also 'aped in', with Arizona Iced Tea purchasing a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT in August 2021 and using it in marketing materials. Adidas also purchased a BAYC NFT intending to develop a character and backstory.

Some basic economics here: because there are only 10,000 Bored Apes, the supply of the NFT art is pretty limited. Coupled with the massive interest in the brand, we have a high-demand/low-supply dynamic that inevitably drives prices up.

To boot, some Bored Ape avatars within the same collection are rarer than others. Each Ape is a one-of-a-kind, randomly generated combination of 170 traits, such as background color, earrings, expression, headwear, clothing, etc. This derived scarcity also contributes to the high prices of some Bored Apes.

Exclusive content

BAYC offers exclusive content benefits to Bored Ape holders, some of which are spelled out in the detailed roadmap on the Bored Ape Yacht Club website. The roadmap is a sort of to-do list that the founders intend to check off when they hit their target sales percentages.

In keeping with the 10th goalpost of finding "new ways to ape with our friends", the BAYC have gotten even more creative with their community-building tactics.

For example, in June 2021, every Bored Ape holder was allowed to 'adopt' a canine companion NFT for free (only paying for 'gas', which is the fee you have to pay for processing transactions on the Ethereum blockchain). That's how Bored Ape Kennel Club was born. The club used secondary sales of these canine companions to raise $1 million for animal shelters.

While these dogs were free for BAYC holders, the current floor price for a Bored Ape Kennel Club dog is 7.60 ETH or about $17,000 at current ETH prices.

In August 2021, BAYC created 20,000 mutant Apes. They released 10,000 to the public for 3 ETH to bring new members on board. It worked— the entire set sold out within an hour, generating $96 million in the process.

But, all Bored Ape owners got a free airdrop of 10,000 digital vials of mutant serums with which they could mint new mutant apes from existing Bored Apes. And they could sell the new NFT on the secondary market for profit.

And in March 2022 — the BAYC launched their own cryptocurrency, the APE coin , and airdropped $ape tokens to each BAYC and MAYC holder. Owners of BAYC NFTs will be able to claim approximately 10,000 ApeCoin each, which amounts to about $100,000 for each holder.

The APE coins are already finding utility within the BAYC community—Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa released an eight-track NFT mixtape for $APE holders.

To top it off, BAYC has started hosting club members at real-life, offline events that will become a yearly tradition. BAYC held its first annual Ape Fest in November 2021, which included a gallery exhibition, a costume contest, and a party on a real 1000-capacity yacht off the coast of Manhattan. Lil Baby, the Strokes, Questlove, Beck, Chris Rock, and Aziz Ansari all made surprise appearances at the grand finale "warehouse" party in Brooklyn.

Celebrity Backing

Jimmy Fallon, Post Malone, Mark Cuban, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, Stephen Curry, Eminem, and Shaquille O'Neal all own Bored Apes. And it's a well-known fact that involving celebrities in anything can raise interest—and prices.

Because of the significant celeb involvement, Bored Apes have become a status symbol — like a digital Veblen good — the more expensive they are, the more people want to have one.

Early Entrance

While Bored Apes aren't the first NFT collection, they're one of the few collections out there. Not to discredit the innovation, but the novelty does contribute to the movement's success. CryptoPunks , for example, are valuable primarily because they represent the first NFT collection.

BAYC bought Cryptopunks in early March 2022—an acquisition that significantly tackles competition and establishes their position as pioneers of the NFT-community movement. BAYC plans to grant intellectual property and commercialization rights to CryptoPunks owners, just as they have with Bored Ape owners. Inevitably, this will increase demand, which will lead to a price increase.

How's That for Monkey Business?

BAYC has recently raised $450 million in funding to develop its own gamified, decentralized Metaverse project dubbed Otherside. The company is gunning for a "Ready-Player-One-Esque" experience that merges virtual reality with real life. If their Metaverse project succeeds, the utility for the BAYC's offerings will blow up at scale.

There's a lot of doubt surrounding the viability of the NFT sector in the cryptosphere, but the BAYC's moves are establishing the brand as more than just an art collectible. If anyone thought the BAYC a fluke, the company's methods for building a community and incentivizing participation should change their minds—this is definitely a brand to keep an eye on.

Meet the Bored Ape Yacht Club founders in their first video interview

Greg Solano and Wiley Aronow talk creating BAYC, arguing over David Foster Wallace, and the mom test.

The founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club have, until very recently, gone only by the pseudonyms Gargamel and Gordon Goner. To go along with our first digital cover story , Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow stepped out from behind their Ape personas to give Input the scoop on how they met and conceived of what would become the world’s most popular NFT project.

“We were both home from college, both studying creative writing at the time, and we immediately got into a fight about David Foster Wallace,” Aronow says of their meeting. “Garga was like, ‘That guy sucks.’ And that was kind of the beginning of our friendship.”

Solano and Aronow aren’t letting their massive success bog down their ideas for BAYC’s future, though. Watch our exclusive video interview below to hear more about how they plan to go “bigger and bigger” with the Bored Apes as they build out a metaverse of their own:

On the topic of where BAYC goes next, Aronow says: “While we build the broader brand — the sandbox, so to speak — the community is building the sandcastles.”

We Found The Real Names Of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Pseudonymous Founders

The buzzy NFT collection has raked in millions and the eager support of dozens of celebrities. But its founders’ anonymity raises questions about accountability in the age of crypto.

BuzzFeed News Reporter

In late January , Paris Hilton appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show . In a segment that was widely mocked for its boosterism, Hilton and host Jimmy Fallon each pulled out printouts of their “Bored Apes” — digital images from a collection of 10,000 unique drawings. Fallon had purchased his last fall for around $216,000, and Hilton had just bought hers for over $300,000. Together the pair had spent half a million dollars on nonfungible tokens, or NFTS: unique digital assets that exist only on the blockchain, a decentralized digital ledger with no trusted intermediary.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), a collection of simian avatars created by four pseudonymous founders, has quickly become an extremely lucrative venture in a fast-growing space. It recently surpassed competitors to become the most expensive NFT collection — the floor price to buy the cheapest ones is now over $280,000 , and the collection currently has a market cap of about $2.8 billion. Yuga Labs, the company that makes BAYC, is reportedly in talks with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz about an investment that would value it at $5 billion (Horowitz, also an investor in BuzzFeed, did not respond to a request for comment).

{ "id": 128692181 } How do you hold them accountable if you don’t know who they are?

BAYC makes money not just from the initial sale (approximately $2 million) of its NFT apes, but also from a 2.5% royalty on future trades. It has real-world licensing deals with the likes of Adidas and was involved in a concert event with Chris Rock and the Strokes. Now held by dozens of celebrities, the Bored Apes have become a flashpoint for both excitement and skepticism about NFTs, which boosters say will revolutionize art and commerce by creating a level playing field free of race and gender, and detractors say are a speculative bubble at best and a scam at worst.

As the value of the asset they produced has skyrocketed, the identities of BAYC’s founders have become the subject of intense interest — not all of it positive . People have pointed out that apes in streetwear-inspired outfits and gold teeth is a racist trope (representatives for Yuga Labs vigorously denied this). Others have expressed concern that Seneca, the young Asian American artist who actually drew the main artwork , has been underacknowledged and undercompensated for her work. Nicole Muniz, the public-facing CEO of Yuga Labs, told BuzzFeed News, “Every single artist of the original five were compensated over a million dollars each." (Seneca did not respond a request for comment.) This reveals a unique problem with the idea of a billion-dollar company run by an unknown person: How do you hold them accountable if you don’t know who they are?

BuzzFeed News can now reveal the identities of BAYC’s two main founders: Greg Solano, a 32-year-old writer and editor, and Wylie Aronow, a 35-year-old originally from Florida.

Neither man immediately responded to a request for comment.

Jimmy Fallon shows a printout of Paris Hilton’s Bored Ape on The Tonight Show .

BuzzFeed News searched public business records to reveal the identities of the two core founders, who go by the pseudonyms “Gordon Goner” and “Gargamel.” According to publicly available records, Yuga Labs, the company name behind BAYC, is incorporated in Delaware with an address associated with Greg Solano. Other records linked Solano to Wylie Aronow. Yuga Labs CEO Nicole Muniz confirmed the identities of both men to BuzzFeed News.

Speaking as Gordon Goner and Gargamel, the founders have given interviews to outlets like Rolling Stone and the New Yorker discussing the origin story of the idea of a group of rich apes living in a swamp clubhouse. The broad strokes of their biographies fit Solano and Aronow: They’re both in their 30s, met while growing up in Florida, and both had literary aspirations (one completed an MFA degree in creative writing, the other dropped out for health reasons, according to their interview in CoinDesk ). They both were interested in crypto and wanted to create some sort of NFT collection. They came up with the concept of rich apes living in a swamp clubhouse, hired a freelance illustrator to draw the apes, and partnered with two engineers as cofounders to execute the collection. The identities of the two engineer cofounders, “Emperor Tomato Ketchup” and “No Sass,” remain unknown.

Greg Solano, or “Gargamel,” appears as an editor and book critic on a few literary websites , and attended the University of Virginia. He coauthored a book about World of Warcraft along with one of the game's designers.

Wylie Aronow, 35, is also from Miami. Aronow lived in Chicago for a while, where he was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune in a “Readers of the Week” story where he and a friend were asked about what books they were reading (he said he had recently enjoyed a translation of the work of Russian author Nikolai Gogol).

In May 2021, a crypto company called Bitmex took Aronow to arbitration over a disputed domain name. Aronow had bought the domain name bitmex.guru in 2018, which Bitmex argued was clearly designed to trick people looking for the real Bitmex website. Aronow did not appear, and the arbitrator ordered that the domain name be transferred after his default in the proceeding.

Pseudonymity is an ingrained part of Web3, the umbrella term for a vision of a decentralized, user-owned internet with cryptocurrency payments and NFTs at its core. Proponents of Web3 see this as a chance to cure some of the ills of Web2’s toxic social platforms. Holyn Kanake , a former Twitter employee and influential crypto enthusiast, wrote in her Substack newsletter about the potential for communities not required to use their legal names — but held accountable by their blockchain reputation — to reduce harassment.

Playing with the concept of identity has also been a wellspring of creativity for NFT artists. One popular NFT artist who only goes by “ shl0ms ” sold an NFT of an image revealing his true identity details — but all that information was written in illegible white font. Other artists have used this to toy with the concepts of traditional copyright, from things like copying Damien Hirst’s famous polka dot s to selling images of Olive Gardens. (Disclaimer: This reporter owns one of those Olive Garden NFTs.)

Artistic value aside, the people behind BAYC are courting investors and running a business that is potentially worth billions.

People walk by a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT billboard in Times Square on Jan. 25, 2022.

As NFTs continue to expand into popular culture and Web3 goes mainstream, the issue of pseudonymously run companies dealing with real money — and lots of it — is a new economic and legal reality.

There are reasons why in the traditional business world, the CEO or founder of a company uses their real name and not a pseudonym. For publicly traded companies, executives must be named in Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures and reports. For even smaller private companies, there are banking regulations and “know your customer” laws that require real names for banks lending money or holding accounts for companies. These laws are in part to prevent terrorists, criminals, or sanctioned nations from doing business in the US.

Solano and Aronow don’t appear to have any particular red flags (apart from Aronow domain name squatting ). But what if in a different NFT collective, the founders turn out to have a long criminal history or extreme political leanings that might make collectors regret spending huge sums of money on their products?

“It should not be difficult to know who you are dealing with,” Gary Kalman, director of the US office of the advocacy group Transparency International, told BuzzFeed News. “This is a pretty basic thing.” While a fancy VC firm might be able to find out more about who is really behind a company, the average NFT holder can’t. “Without transparency and openness, then everyday people that can’t do the due diligence that major corporations are doing, then that can create problems — and there’s no reason for it.”

{ "id": 128692195 } “It will meaningfully open up opportunities for people who otherwise have the odds against them.”

Some believe that the blockchain heralds a new and improved form of corporate transparency. “Yes, there can be accountability,” said Mark Cuban , entrepreneur and owner of two Bored Apes. “The reason is that all transactions are based on smart contracts and written to the blockchain, which is the antithesis of traditional business. What other collectibles business publishes all their sales and business processes?”

It’s possible that pseudonymous companies could become our new reality. Soona Amhaz, a partner at crypto-focused venture capital firm Volt Capital, believes there might be some benefit in that. Unlike the traditional startup world, it frees founders from judgments of their physical appearance, where they went to school, and their social class, gender, or race. “It will meaningfully open up opportunities for people who otherwise have the odds against them because they didn’t come from the right school, right corporations, or because they live in a place where unstealthing yourself could mean becoming a target,” she told BuzzFeed News.

According to Amhaz, it’s possible for investors to learn how to do due diligence with pseudonymous founders; they just need to adjust and adapt. In the recent case of a founder of a decentralized finance protocol being revealed to be someone previously convicted of fraud, the information had been sitting there in the blockchain if someone had just pieced together the links. “It’s an unfamiliar way of doing things and relatively new,” Amhaz said, “but I truly believe it will be a meaningful part of the future of work.” ●

Emily Baker-White contributed reporting to this story.

Topics in this article

• Bored Ape Yacht Club

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“NTF:WTF?,” the upcoming documentary from BAFTA-winning filmmaker David Shulman about the world of Non-Fungible Tokens and their impact on the art market, has been acquired by Netflix for the U.K.

In the film, co-produced by Josh Berger ‘s Battersea Entertainment and Atomized Studios (“Real Mo Farah”), Hirst discusses his NFT project The Currency, which was launched as a series of 10,000 unique Spot Paintings and gave collectors the option of keeping an initial NFT digital version or swapping it for the original physical artwork. Those who elected to keep the NFT of the work had their original painting burned and destroyed by Hirst. How the collectors would make their determinations underpins the thrust of Shulman’s film.

“NFT:WTF?” marks the debut project from Battersea Entertainment, set up by former Warner Bros. UK, Ireland and Spain president Berger in 2022 as a media investment and advisory company and producer of film, TV, and theatre content. Berger recently produced Guy Ritchie’s “The Covenant,” starring Jake Gylenhaal. Battersea and Atomized sold the film to Netflix. Passion Distribution is selling all other global territories.

“NFT:WTF?” is directed by Shulman, produced by Berger, with Zad Rogers, Lydia Conway and Ben Weston serving as executive producers. The producer for Atomized Studios is Alex Foster.

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40 facts about elektrostal.

Written by Lanette Mayes

Modified & Updated: 02 Mar 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

Elektrostal is a vibrant city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia. With a rich history, stunning architecture, and a thriving community, Elektrostal is a city that has much to offer. Whether you are a history buff, nature enthusiast, or simply curious about different cultures, Elektrostal is sure to captivate you.

This article will provide you with 40 fascinating facts about Elektrostal, giving you a better understanding of why this city is worth exploring. From its origins as an industrial hub to its modern-day charm, we will delve into the various aspects that make Elektrostal a unique and must-visit destination.

So, join us as we uncover the hidden treasures of Elektrostal and discover what makes this city a true gem in the heart of Russia.

Key Takeaways:

• Elektrostal, known as the “Motor City of Russia,” is a vibrant and growing city with a rich industrial history, offering diverse cultural experiences and a strong commitment to environmental sustainability.
• With its convenient location near Moscow, Elektrostal provides a picturesque landscape, vibrant nightlife, and a range of recreational activities, making it an ideal destination for residents and visitors alike.

Known as the “Motor City of Russia.”

Elektrostal, a city located in the Moscow Oblast region of Russia, earned the nickname “Motor City” due to its significant involvement in the automotive industry.

Home to the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Elektrostal is renowned for its metallurgical plant, which has been producing high-quality steel and alloys since its establishment in 1916.

Boasts a rich industrial heritage.

Elektrostal has a long history of industrial development, contributing to the growth and progress of the region.

Founded in 1916.

The city of Elektrostal was founded in 1916 as a result of the construction of the Elektrostal Metallurgical Plant.

Located approximately 50 kilometers east of Moscow.

Elektrostal is situated in close proximity to the Russian capital, making it easily accessible for both residents and visitors.

Known for its vibrant cultural scene.

Elektrostal is home to several cultural institutions, including museums, theaters, and art galleries that showcase the city’s rich artistic heritage.

A popular destination for nature lovers.

Surrounded by picturesque landscapes and forests, Elektrostal offers ample opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and birdwatching.

Hosts the annual Elektrostal City Day celebrations.

Every year, Elektrostal organizes festive events and activities to celebrate its founding, bringing together residents and visitors in a spirit of unity and joy.

Has a population of approximately 160,000 people.

Elektrostal is home to a diverse and vibrant community of around 160,000 residents, contributing to its dynamic atmosphere.

Boasts excellent education facilities.

The city is known for its well-established educational institutions, providing quality education to students of all ages.

A center for scientific research and innovation.

Elektrostal serves as an important hub for scientific research, particularly in the fields of metallurgy, materials science, and engineering.

Surrounded by picturesque lakes.

The city is blessed with numerous beautiful lakes, offering scenic views and recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike.

Well-connected transportation system.

Elektrostal benefits from an efficient transportation network, including highways, railways, and public transportation options, ensuring convenient travel within and beyond the city.

Famous for its traditional Russian cuisine.

Food enthusiasts can indulge in authentic Russian dishes at numerous restaurants and cafes scattered throughout Elektrostal.

Home to notable architectural landmarks.

Elektrostal boasts impressive architecture, including the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Elektrostal Palace of Culture.

Offers a wide range of recreational facilities.

Residents and visitors can enjoy various recreational activities, such as sports complexes, swimming pools, and fitness centers, enhancing the overall quality of life.

Provides a high standard of healthcare.

Elektrostal is equipped with modern medical facilities, ensuring residents have access to quality healthcare services.

Home to the Elektrostal History Museum.

The Elektrostal History Museum showcases the city’s fascinating past through exhibitions and displays.

A hub for sports enthusiasts.

Elektrostal is passionate about sports, with numerous stadiums, arenas, and sports clubs offering opportunities for athletes and spectators.

Celebrates diverse cultural festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal hosts a variety of cultural festivals, celebrating different ethnicities, traditions, and art forms.

Electric power played a significant role in its early development.

Elektrostal owes its name and initial growth to the establishment of electric power stations and the utilization of electricity in the industrial sector.

Boasts a thriving economy.

The city’s strong industrial base, coupled with its strategic location near Moscow, has contributed to Elektrostal’s prosperous economic status.

Houses the Elektrostal Drama Theater.

The Elektrostal Drama Theater is a cultural centerpiece, attracting theater enthusiasts from far and wide.

Popular destination for winter sports.

Elektrostal’s proximity to ski resorts and winter sport facilities makes it a favorite destination for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter activities.

Promotes environmental sustainability.

Elektrostal prioritizes environmental protection and sustainability, implementing initiatives to reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.

Home to renowned educational institutions.

Elektrostal is known for its prestigious schools and universities, offering a wide range of academic programs to students.

Committed to cultural preservation.

The city values its cultural heritage and takes active steps to preserve and promote traditional customs, crafts, and arts.

Hosts an annual International Film Festival.

The Elektrostal International Film Festival attracts filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts from around the world, showcasing a diverse range of films.

Encourages entrepreneurship and innovation.

Elektrostal supports aspiring entrepreneurs and fosters a culture of innovation, providing opportunities for startups and business development.

Offers a range of housing options.

Elektrostal provides diverse housing options, including apartments, houses, and residential complexes, catering to different lifestyles and budgets.

Home to notable sports teams.

Elektrostal is proud of its sports legacy, with several successful sports teams competing at regional and national levels.

Boasts a vibrant nightlife scene.

Residents and visitors can enjoy a lively nightlife in Elektrostal, with numerous bars, clubs, and entertainment venues.

Promotes cultural exchange and international relations.

Elektrostal actively engages in international partnerships, cultural exchanges, and diplomatic collaborations to foster global connections.

Surrounded by beautiful nature reserves.

Nearby nature reserves, such as the Barybino Forest and Luchinskoye Lake, offer opportunities for nature enthusiasts to explore and appreciate the region’s biodiversity.

Commemorates historical events.

The city pays tribute to significant historical events through memorials, monuments, and exhibitions, ensuring the preservation of collective memory.

Promotes sports and youth development.

Elektrostal invests in sports infrastructure and programs to encourage youth participation, health, and physical fitness.

Hosts annual cultural and artistic festivals.

Throughout the year, Elektrostal celebrates its cultural diversity through festivals dedicated to music, dance, art, and theater.

Provides a picturesque landscape for photography enthusiasts.

The city’s scenic beauty, architectural landmarks, and natural surroundings make it a paradise for photographers.

Connects to Moscow via a direct train line.

The convenient train connection between Elektrostal and Moscow makes commuting between the two cities effortless.

A city with a bright future.

Elektrostal continues to grow and develop, aiming to become a model city in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, and quality of life for its residents.

In conclusion, Elektrostal is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant present. From its origins as a center of steel production to its modern-day status as a hub for education and industry, Elektrostal has plenty to offer both residents and visitors. With its beautiful parks, cultural attractions, and proximity to Moscow, there is no shortage of things to see and do in this dynamic city. Whether you’re interested in exploring its historical landmarks, enjoying outdoor activities, or immersing yourself in the local culture, Elektrostal has something for everyone. So, next time you find yourself in the Moscow region, don’t miss the opportunity to discover the hidden gems of Elektrostal.

Q: What is the population of Elektrostal?

A: As of the latest data, the population of Elektrostal is approximately XXXX.

Q: How far is Elektrostal from Moscow?

A: Elektrostal is located approximately XX kilometers away from Moscow.

Q: Are there any famous landmarks in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to several notable landmarks, including XXXX and XXXX.

Q: What industries are prominent in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal is known for its steel production industry and is also a center for engineering and manufacturing.

Q: Are there any universities or educational institutions in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal is home to XXXX University and several other educational institutions.

Q: What are some popular outdoor activities in Elektrostal?

A: Elektrostal offers several outdoor activities, such as hiking, cycling, and picnicking in its beautiful parks.

Q: Is Elektrostal well-connected in terms of transportation?

A: Yes, Elektrostal has good transportation links, including trains and buses, making it easily accessible from nearby cities.

Q: Are there any annual events or festivals in Elektrostal?

A: Yes, Elektrostal hosts various events and festivals throughout the year, including XXXX and XXXX.

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Club ADRENALIN - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• Fri - Sat 10:00 PM - 6:00 AM
• (5.81 mi) Inn Aquarel
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Strange Glow Over Moscow Skies Triggers Panic as Explosions Reported

B right flashes lit up the night sky in southern Moscow in the early hours of Thursday morning, new footage appears to show, following reports of an explosion at an electrical substation on the outskirts of the city.

Video snippets circulating on Russian-language Telegram channels show a series of flashes on the horizon of a cloudy night sky, momentarily turning the sky a number of different colors. In a clip shared by Russian outlet MSK1.ru, smoke can be seen rising from a building during the flashes lighting up the scene.

Newsweek was unable to independently verify the details of the video clips, including when and where it was filmed. The Russian Ministry of Emergency situations has been contacted via email.

Several Russian Telegram accounts said early on Thursday that residents of southern Moscow reported an explosion and a fire breaking out at an electrical substation in the Leninsky district, southeast of central Moscow.

Local authorities in the Leninsky district told Russian outlet RBC that the explosion had happened in the village of Molokovo. "All vital facilities are operating as normal," Leninsky district officials told the outlet.

The incident at the substation in Molokovo took place just before 2 a.m. local time, MSK1.ru reported.

Messages published by the ASTRA Telegram account, run by independent Russian journalists, appear to show residents close to the substation panicking as they question the bright flashes in the sky. One local resident describes seeing the bright light before losing access to electricity, with another calling the incident a "nightmare."

More than 10 villages and towns in the southeast of Moscow lost access to electricity, the ASTRA Telegram account also reported. The town of Lytkarino to the southeast of Moscow, lost electricity, wrote the eastern European-based independent outlet, Meduza.

Outages were reported in the southern Domodedovo area of the city, according to another Russian outlet, as well as power failures in western Moscow. Electricity was then restored to the areas, the Strana.ua outlet reported.

The cause of the reported explosion is not known. A Telegram account aggregating news for the Lytkarino area described the incident as "an ordinary accident at a substation."

The MSK1.ru outlet quoted a local resident who speculated that a drone may have been responsible for the explosion, but no other Russian source reported this as a possible cause.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Moscow with long-range aerial drones in recent months, including a dramatic wave of strikes in late May.

On Sunday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the region's air defense systems had intercepted an aerial drone over the city of Elektrostal, to the east of Moscow. No damage or casualties were reported, he said.

The previous day, Russian air defenses detected and shot down another drone flying over the Bogorodsky district, northeast of central Moscow, Sobyanin said.

There is currently no evidence that an aerial drone was responsible for the reported overnight explosion at the electrical substation in southern Moscow.

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