Two of the founders of BAYC, going by the pseudonyms "Gargamel" and "Gordon Goner", describe themselves as "literary bros".[21] The two told The New Yorker they initially bonded by arguing about the work of David Foster Wallace.[22] The two of them grew up together in Miami.[22] The other two founders go by the pseudonyms "No Sass" and "Emperor Tomato Ketchup",[23] the latter deriving his alias from the 1996 Stereolab album of the same name.[23]
In February 2022, Gargamel and Gordon Goner's identities were revealed to be Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, respectively, by BuzzFeed News.[24] Upon this revelation, Nicole Muniz, the CEO of Yuga Labs confirmed BuzzFeed's report.[24] Solano and Aronow went to Twitter, commenting they were doxxed and uploaded images of themselves next to their Bored Ape profile pictures.[24] Solano is a writer and editor, while No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup are programmers.[24] Aronow, the son of boat tycoon Donald Aronow, has been documented as planning to attend an MFA program, before becoming addicted to Crack cocaine, alcohol,[25] falling ill and becoming a cryptocurrency day trader.[26][22]
Solano and Aronow brought in two friends of theirs, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup, programmers who could handle the blockchain coding.[22] The latter two were knowledgeable in computer science, having studied the field at the same university Solano attended; however, they "were not crypto-savvy," having both written their first lines of Solidity code, a language used for smart contracts, in February 2021.[23]
Solano and Aronow came up with the concept of "a shared digital canvas: anyone who bought in could draw on it." They likened this canvas as being used similar to a bathroom at a dive bar; this idea stuck with the two, and they created a science-fiction storyline centered around it. In an interview with The New Yorker, Aronow elaborated on the concept, which centered on early cryptocurrency investors all becoming billionaires:
Now they're just fucking bored. What do you do now that you're wealthy beyond your wildest dreams? You're going to hang out in a swamp club with a bunch of apes and get weird.[22]
Aronow clarified that apes were chosen as a mascot for the NFT because of the cryptocurrency phrase aping in, meaning to buy into a new currency or NFT with abandon, risking a significant amount of money.[22]
All Seeing Seneca, or simply Seneca, an Asian-American artist, is credited as the lead designer of the artwork featured in Bored Ape NFTs.[27] Seneca clarified that she was not the sole illustrator of the artwork, but the "lead artist of the original collection" and that the ape's body is "exactly line-for-line" her drawing.[27]
BAYC co-founder Gargamel stated that "Thomas Dagley, Migwashere, and a couple who chose to remain anonymous" handled traits and environments.[27] Seneca did however, "develop some of the major traits, like the grinning mouth, the popping eyes, and the beanie."[27] Gargamel stated he was "struck" by the expressiveness of Seneca's characters and that "for the apes, we arrived at exactly the mood we were after: existential boredom."[27] Although unable to share specifics, Seneca did state her financial compensation was not ideal, but that she was "grateful for the experience" and stated that "not of ton of people know that I did these drawings, which is terrible for an artist."[27] [sic]
After Bored Ape NFTs became popular, Yuga Labs hired artists, social media managers, Discord community managers, and a CFO. In response to the popularity surrounding Bored Ape, Aronow stated that BAYC was aiming to be a "Web3 lifestyle company."[23] The company released secondary assets like Bored Ape Kennel Club, Mutant Serum, and Mutant Ape Yacht Club,[28][10] which has increased BAYC's worth, brought more users into the ecosystem and rewarded previous holders and investors.
On March 11, 2022, it was announced that Yuga Labs acquired all of the CryptoPunks and Meebits intellectual property for an undisclosed sum. Yuga Labs stated they were granting complete commercial rights to CryptoPunks owners.[29]
On March 16, 2022, ApeCoin DAO launched its own token separate from Yuga Labs known as "ApeCoin" ($APE), which was used to build tokenomics for their products.[30]
On April 25, 2022, the official Instagram account of the company was hacked and a phishing link was posted on it. As a result, four Bored Ape NFTs, along with ten more from related collections by Yuga Labs, were stolen with a total estimated worth of approximately $3 million.[31] $1 million worth of funds were transferred into the hacker's account.[28]
On April 30, 2022, Yuga Labs launched its metaverse Otherside, as a collaboration with Animoca Brands.[32][33] Bored Ape NFTs feature in the music video for Eminem and Snoop Dogg's song "From the D 2 the LBC".[34]
In January 2023, Yuga Labs launched, for a limited time, an "endless runner" game called Dookey Dash for holders of the BAYC NFTs. Getting the highest score granted the player a "golden key" NFT, which a Twitch streamer Mongraal won and subsequently sold to Adam Weitsman for $1.6 million.[35]