On September 26, Internet hacktivist group Anonymous released a video targeting blockchain technology company Yuga Labs and the NFT-led social club Bored Up Yacht Club (BAYC).
The group’s statement, Yuga Lab, includes a laundry list of the use of exotic symbolism in BAYC’s art – Anonymous reveals the company’s support for many controversial issues such as Nazism, racism, masculinity and pedophilia.
After conducting extensive research and interviews with key people, the hacking team can prove “without a shadow of a doubt” that Bored Up Yacht Club (BAYC) and Yuga Labs are guilty of hiding these secret signals in plain sight, he says – conclusion. Both the company and the project were openly opposed.
The group cautioned against taking the allegations to baseless “conspiracy theory”, saying people who do so are “simply ignorant” or “uneducated or worse, financially strapped”. A representative of the hacker group shared:
It goes without saying that the BAYC collection and the Yoga Labs brand are infested with not one or two, but dozens of esoteric symbols and dog whistles that reflect Nazism, racism, hypocrisy, and pedophile support.
Anonymous claims that the owners of these artworks are victims of the Bored Up Yacht Club and Yoga Labs expeditions, and that the owners must not remain silent because of their desire to protect their financial interests.
“Do your founders owe more than this? Many outside the BAYC community whisper how they have been duped in an unprecedented and unforgivable way.
The team has sought investors, partners and celebrities such as Andreessen Horowitz, Mark Cuban, Dez Bryant, Tom Brady, Ben Simmons, Neymar Jr., Kevin Hart, Drake Bell, Shaquille O’Neal and Lions. Tree, Adidas, Tiffany & Co, to speak out and take a public stance against the practices of Nazism, racism, homophobia and pedophilia.
On June 24, Yoga Labs co-founder Greg Solano denied similar claims against the company in a Medium post:
We have been the target of a crazy propaganda campaign by a group of friends of Jews, Turks, Pakistanis and Cubans – accusing us of being super secret Nazis.
Solano said at the time that the accusations of racism against the various groups were completely baseless.
In the year On July 25, Cointelegraph reported on a proposed class-action lawsuit against Yuga Labs that sued the community for buying Bored Monkey Boat Club’s non-fungal tokens (NFTs) and the project’s associated ApeCoin (APE) token. The proposed class-action lawsuit alleges that Yuga Labs used celebrity endorsements and endorsements to “inflate the value” of BAYC NFTs and APE tokens.
Cointelegraph reached out to Yuga Labs, but did not receive a response as of press time.