- “Gordon Goner” and “Gargamel” are Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection founders, reveals a Buzzfeed article.
- The article was published on Feb 4 is authored by Journalist Kate Notopoulos and entitled, “We Found The Real Names Of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Pseudonymous Founders.”
- Many members of the Web3 community criticized the revelation of Aronow and Solano’s identities. The members are of the opinion that it is not the appropriate journalistic practice, labeling the article as “doxxing”.
Buzzfeed, an American Internet media and entertainment company, has disclosed the identities of two of the four original Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT. “Gordon Goner” and “Gargamel” in reality are Collection Founder, Greg Solano, and Wylie Aronow.
An article was published on Feb. 4 titled “We Found The Real Names Of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Pseudonymous Founders.” authored by Journalist Kate Notopoulos.
Notopoulos uncovered the identity of the NFTs by going through Yoga Labs, whose records are available publicly. Yoga Labs is the company behind the collection. With an address associated with Greg Solano, Yuga was integrated into Delaware and other records denoting Wylie Aronow.
According to the tech reporter, the people behind BAYC are inviting investors and running a business that is likely to be worth billions. Since these identities are not revealed, they can not be held accountable.
The Securities and Exchange Commission should have mentioned the executives of publicly-traded companies. Executives of small companies are bound by the banking regulations and “know your customer” laws to go by their real names in many cases.
Notopoulos said these laws are crafted to stop criminals, terrorists, and sanctioned nations from running a business in the U.S.
Web3 Community Members Are Criticizing The Revelation Of Aronow and Solano’s Identities
After the revelation of Aronow and Solano’s identities, several members of the Web3 community are criticizing the move. The members call the article “doxxing”, adding that it is not the appropriate journalistic practice.
Cobie, a crypto podcaster, in a Feb 5 tweet, said that they are publicly doxxing people for ad revenue and clicks, calling the article “typical Buzzfeed trash.”
On the other hand, Mike Solana commented that they are just cartoon apes and there is no whatsoever reason to dox people.
Ryan Selkis, Messari founder, didn’t look happy with the story. He shared a 2009 tweet by Notopoulos that had a homophobic slur.
Notopoulos Faces Backlash Due To The Article
Notopoulos was pretty calm regarding the backlash. She even shared a screenshot of a message which was a threat to make her personal information such as location, parents’ home, place of work, and siblings’ addresses public.
On the very same day the article was published, YugaLabs hinted that funding talks are going on between the NFT collection and A16z, one of Silicon Valley’s top VC firms. The collection is valued at $5 billion.
Aronow and Solanoa are among the first big names in the crypto space to get publicly outed this year.
Dr. Naveen Singh is an entrepreneur with achievements in sports, academics, healthcare, innovation, blockchain technology, telecommunications, and philanthropy. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Inery, the first layer-1 blockchain programmed for database management. With Inery, he aligns with his vision of a new paradigm for data to empower web3 and complete decentralization.