BuzzFeed criticised for revealing the identities of Bored Ape Yacht Club founders

BuzzFeed journalist Katie Notopoulos revealed the identities of two of the four co-founders of the NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), who go by the pseudonyms Gordon Goner and Gargamel.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club is the biggest NFT group (the ones Paris Hilton and Gwyneth Paltrow own). Reported the company is raising money at a $5B valuation. But the founders are all pseudonymous. Which is, confusing. My story: https://t.co/fA61yOHHWL

— Katie Notopoulos (@katienotopoulos) February 5, 2022

According to Notopoulos, in real life they turned out to be Florida residents — 32-year-old Greg Solano and 35-year-old Wylie Aronow.

The journalist studied publicly available information about the company behind the collection, Yuga Labs. It turned out the firm is registered at an address linked to Solano, with other records pointing to Aronow.

CEO of Yuga Labs Nicole Munier confirmed the information.

Both BAYC co-founders described the incident as doxxing — the disclosure of personal information online without their consent. Solano responded with the phrase: “Oh well”.

Got doxxed against my will. Oh well.

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

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

They compared the Web 2.0 world with the Web3 space, in which one can preserve confidentiality by hiding behind a pseudonym.

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

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

The community reaction was sharper — the piece was seen as an intrusion into private life, with little point.

Popular podcaster Cobie called the publication “typical BuzzFeed trash”, which doxxes people “for clicks and ad revenue”.

Doxxing people for clicks and ad revenue. Typical Buzzfeed trash. Wonder if I can short Buzzfeed somehow. https://t.co/xDarnhoEqb

— Cobie (@cobie) February 5, 2022

According to Mike Solana, vice president at Founders Fund, it is “disgusting” to reveal people’s identities under the pretext of a “huge scoop.” They are “literally cartoon apes,” he added.

they’re literally cartoon apes. there was absolutely no reason to dox these guys. the hero ic language being used by journalists to describe this story as if it were some kind of massive scoop in the public’s interest is disgusting.

— Mike Solana (@micsolana) February 5, 2022

Rapper Snoop Dogg, known in the space as NFT-collector Cozomo de’ Medici, argued that the journalist exposed the BAYC co-founders to danger:

“Katie Notopoulos just made two innocent men and their families targets for kidnapping or armed robbery. Don’t think I’m exaggerating. Doxxing a crypto whale is an open invitation for criminals to attack. Disgusting hype-chaser.”

Reporter @katienotopoulos has just made two innocent men and their families targets for kidnapping & armed robbery.

You may think I am being dramatic, but I absolutely am not. Dox’ing a crypto whale is an open invite to criminals to attack.

What a disgusting clout chaser. https://t.co/GtpE7KYC5R

— Cozomo de’ Medici (@CozomoMedici) February 5, 2022

Gabe Rivera, founder of Techmeme, described BuzzFeed’s piece as standard business journalism.

Theorycels are coping hard, calling this “doxxing”, but it’s ultimately standard business reporting.

Calling it illegitimate implicitely asserts only certain wealthy, connected people should continue to know the identities behind folks orchestrating billions in transactions. https://t.co/oncgUKPpkJ

— Gabe Rivera (@gaberivera) February 5, 2022

The minds behind BAYC’s swamp-dwelling wealthy-ape club formed the venture with two engineers. The co-founders under the pseudonyms Emperor Tomato Ketchup and No Sass took on the technical work. Their identities remain unknown.

The BAYC collection has a market capitalization of about $2.8 billion, with the cheapest NFT valued at more than $280,000.

Yuga Labs earns revenue from primary token sales, as well as a 2.5% royalty on secondary trades.

Earlier reports indicated that the company planned to raise financing from Andreessen Horowitz and other venture investors with a target valuation of $4 billion to $5 billion.