Exclusive Interview with the Founder of BAYC: We Have Huge Ambitions to Build a True Metaverse

In February of this year, 33-year-old Greg Solano and 35-year-old Wylie Aronow learned at their respective homes that BuzzFeed News was about to reveal their true identities as the founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). This was a huge blow for them, as they had been carefully hiding their identities.

Solano recalled: "We only received a 20-minute warning." They immediately began removing personal information from the internet and warned family members about what was to come. Aronow said: "To be frank, we had very real security concerns." They worried that bad actors might try to hack into their accounts or do worse things to them.

Bored Ape is an NFT collection made up of 10,000 unique digital avatars, each ape has a unique combination of traits. Since its launch in April 2021, it has become one of the most successful projects in the NFT space. Currently, the floor price for one ape is around $140,000. Celebrities like Steph Curry and Justin Bieber own Bored Ape NFTs.

Solano and Aronow both grew up in Miami. Aronow's father, Don Aronow, was a leader in the powerboat industry and was murdered in 1987. Aronow said that at the age of 15, he was an alcoholic and addicted to drugs, often running away from home. Solano, on the other hand, is the child of Cuban immigrants and wanted to be a writer since he was 11 years old.

The two decided to create an NFT project together in February 2021, ultimately launching BAYC. They said: "At that time, we just thought, we want to do everything. I really wanted to give it my all because in my mind, I thought, maybe I'm going to get sick again."

Today, BAYC has become a leading project in the NFT space. But the founders are not satisfied with this. They are developing a Metaverse project called Otherside, hoping to compete with tech giants like Meta. Aronow said, "The ambition and scale of the mission we are trying to accomplish here is enormous. We are going to slay some giants."

Despite the downturn in the cryptocurrency market, the founders of BAYC are confident about the future. They stated that the company has ample funds to weather any bear market. Aronow said: "We may be the largest company in the NFT space right now, but when it comes to building the Metaverse, we are far from being the largest company. We need to slay some giants."