BAYC, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Can the BAYC actually be racist, nihilistic nazi sympathisers?
Coo! This is a Crypto Owl, hurrying to bring you some really shocking (and dark) news for today. I can’t flap my wings anymore, because, man, what you are about to read might sound very crazy!
On Today’s Menu:
⏳ Estimated reading time: 4 minutes & 57 seconds
🌶 CAROLINA REAPER (aka the hottest pepper in the world): The dark side of BAYC
🥛 GLASS OF MILK: Top 6 crypto News around the web
🥛 ANOTHER GLASS OF MILK (you might need this)
BAYC GOT ACCUSED OF BEING NAZIS AND RASICTS
First, take a long breath and sit down. You’ll need to sit down, I swear.
Ok, so a youtuber called Phillion released this video about Bored Ape Yacht Club (that is based on Yuga Labs) - the number 1 NFTs collection. It’s a collection loved so much among celebrities (from Stephen Curry to Paris Hilton), collectors and all other cool people who belong to the BAYC community.
But all this “I-am-cool-because-I-own-ape” thing could change real fast. Of course, this is just one very long video, so it might be unfair to judge BAYC by that alone. On the other hand, it's not the first time when people raised questions about racism and other compromising stuff, coming from Yuga Labs founders (you'll understand what I mean in a minute).
Of course the BAYC founders and hardcore fans will probably call everything just a coincidence. However, the facts in this Philion video are mind-blowing and it's hard to think only about… coincidences.
So, what is wrong with BAYC?
Let’s start with BAYC launch date. It was April 30th, 2021. It was a huge success, because NFTs were sold very fast for tremendous amounts of money. But there is one thing. On the same day, April 30th in 1945, Hitler died. You could say, “but hey, why haven’t they chosen the Hitlers’ birthday to launch the collection?”. Good question. Was it on purpose, or just a coincidence? We don’t know.
Moving on to BAYC logo that seems edgy and cool, but if you look closely and open a history book you will find some resemblance with Totenkopf - a military emblem that was used by nazi Germany and Prussia. There are 18 teeth in the skull - it symbolizes hate and it is a number of Adolf Hitler (1=A, 8=H). Lastly, the emblem of BAYC has rough edges. Just like the Totenkopf. Check this out:
Next, some people think that the idea of using an ape as a character for NFTs is in itself racist. It discriminates and disrespects the black community. This is called simianization - when someone compares ethnic group(-s) to an ape or a monkey. In the past, simianization was a way to dehumanize black culture people. And in this case, history seems to be repeating itself in a new NFT format. Simply inappropriate.
Yuga Labs name itself seems to be off too. Founders say that the name is from the adventure video game called The Legend of Zelda, as there is a villain named Yuga. But that’s not necessarily true. There is a Kali Yuga, a term which came from hinduism and means age of darkness and ignorance.
On Yuga Labs website, there is another project mentioned - “ Hasmasks”. The Project is made by a Switzerland company called Suum Cuique labs. This name means “to each his own” or “to each what he deserves”. This sentence was written on the Buchenwald concentration (Germany) camp gates. Also, it was written on Prussian helmets.
So what about the founders?
Uuuh, that’s where even more interesting “coincidences” come out. Let’s look a bit closer to each and everyone of them.
EmperorTomatoKetchup (aka Kerem Atalay, software engineer). This name sounds funny, and Kerem himself said that for this name, he got inspiration from Stereolab, an English-French band.
Now, actually, Emperor Tomato Ketchup is the name of a short 1971 Japanese film that is banned almost in the whole world, because it contains child pornnography elements. And… The worst part is that Stereolab's band name is from that film. So… yeah.
Gargamel (aka Greg Solano, creative writer). You now probably thought about Smurfs and its antagonist Gargamel. The thing is that in 4chan, the famous online troll community, the word “Gargamel” is used to mock jewish people.
Gordon Goner (aka Wylie Aronow, creative writer). Long story short, this name is an anagram. Gordon is for “frongo”, which is Australian slang for “stupid”, and Goner is for “Negro”, which means “black”. So, clearly, this is an expression of racism.
Sass (aka Sezhan Ali, software engineer). We need to divide it. “SA” is a shorthand for “sturmabteilung” (in germany it means “brown shirt”) and “SS” is for schutzstaffel (as for “protective squadron”). Hence, this combination is for the two primary nazi military divisions.
Well… of course it would be easy to say “we are just reading too much into it” and all this could be just a coincidence, but these nicknames are actually just the tip of the iceberg among countless other details so many people just don’t see.
Crypto Owl’s takeaway: BAYC could be the one of the biggest trolls in the Internet’s history. Yes, you can blame them for being racist, nazis, becauses facts are speaking for themselves. But the most important thing is that people let BAYC founders maybe trolling a looot of unaware buyers. Or… Are they?
Well, I guess we just have to wait and see what happens.
To brighten the mood a bit, here’s some good news for all the fans of CryptoPunks. They are getting a new leader to help develop the future for their NFTs. He comes from Christie’s Auction - the first auction to ever sell NFTs. He promised not to mess with the punks, have 1:1s with those interested in the future or legacy of the brand, so we hope all that is true and CryptoPunks will remain who they are - the most respected high tier NFT community in the world.
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Disclaimer: This newsletter is strictly educational. None of this information is intended to be financial advice. Always do your own research and act responsibly with your profits.