From the beginning, the use of pseudonymous identities to protect your privacy has been an integral part of the cryptocurrency industry; however, as the market has matured greatly since the early days, the question of whether these practices remain morally correct has come to the fore again, especially in relation to projects that have reached a certain degree of importance.
In this sense, the American media and entertainment company Buzzfeed recently revealed the identities of two of the four founders of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) – that is, “Gordon Goner” and “Gargamel” – as Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow.
Journalist Kate Notopoulos recently wrote an article titled We Found The Real Names Of Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Pseudonymous Founders (We Found the Real Names of the Founders of the Bored Ape Yacht Club), in which he discovered the couple’s names by reviewing publicly available records associated with Yuga Labs, the company behind the collection. Yuga was incorporated in Delaware with an address associated with Solano, while other records point to Aronow.
On the same day as the reveal, Yuga Labs indicated that its NFT collection was in funding talks with one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms, a16z, which valued the entire collection at an attractive $5 billion.
After “doxing” -an informal term that refers to the publication of private information about a specific individual on the Internet- both Solano and Aronow they came to Twitter for highlight the importance of individual privacy, especially in the context of Web3 versus Web2.
Is doxing ethical?
According to Notopoulos, when a company as large as BAYC – that is, one that attracts billions of dollars a year – operates on a global scale, it is imperative that the founders or CEO of the company use their real name and not an anonymous one, and adds:
“There are reasons why in the traditional business world, the CEO or founder of a company uses their real name and not an anonymous one. How do you hold them accountable if you don’t know who they are?”
To bolster his argument, he added that executives associated with publicly traded companies in the United States are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to fill out various statements and reports, while smaller companies are subject to intense banking regulations, as well as as well as “Know Your Customer” laws, which force all executives to use their real names.
That said, the apparent “unconsented exposure” of the BAYC founders has brought to light a number of critics, especially from those individuals operating within the burgeoning Web3 ecosystem. For example, prominent cryptocurrency podcaster Colbie referred the article as journalistic “garbage” intended simply to attract clicks, and Messari founder Ryan Selkis echo of a somewhat similar feeling.
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
Yet amid all this backlash, Notopoulos seems to remain relatively unfazed, stating that he did what he had to do from both an ethical and journalistic standpoint.
Experts are divided
Giselle Nagle, COO of PhotoChromic, a blockchain-based digital identity protocol, told Cointelegraph that the issue of identity protection is very complex and multifaceted and very difficult to resolve, adding:
“To sum it up, there are two main aspects of identity: personal and public. Pseudonymous identity works best when you need to trust that the person behind the identity is who they say they are and when sensitive information is exchanged. However , in both cases, the individual must have full autonomy to expose his identity or not”.
He added that a person’s identity is their greatest asset and that it is necessary for everyone -especially individuals who operate in the field of digital technology- to know how to put in place mechanisms to protect their information. “For the first time since the advent of the Internet, we are beginning to see the pieces of the puzzle coming together to unlock the enormous potential of a holistic view of one’s identity,” Nagle said.
Similarly, Jaya Klara Brekke, chief strategy officer at privacy tech firm Nym Technologies, told Cointelegraph that the aforementioned Buzzfeed stunt was highly suspicious, and therefore it is increasingly important to have privacy protections in place. privacy more robust, especially as the industry continues to mature.
In Brekke’s view, individual anonyms are no longer enough, adding that with tools that enable analysis of public ledgers, traffic, and metadata now readily available on the open market, privacy issues they are more problematic. He said:
“We are rapidly heading towards a privacy problem that is bigger than ever. Which, in turn, fuel discriminatory profiling and identity systems, blocking open access to technology resources. We need technology that remains neutral, open and available to all.” “.
A somewhat contrary view was shared by Lior Lamesh, co-founder and CEO of GK8, a cybersecurity fin-tech, who told Cointelegraph that blockchain, by its very nature, is private and that as long as the organization running a blockchain initiative can govern its operations in accordance with the law of the country, it has the right to keep the identities of its users and interested parties private.
Lamesh also stated that journalists are truth seekers by nature and therefore have a right to do their job, and in this case Notopoulos revealing the identity of the founders of BAYC was fine:
“This should not be interpreted as a cause for concern. What can be said now is that these digital arts will almost certainly not be used as a conduit for money laundering because the BAYC team will apply new data protection methods. So as far as possibly doing the right thing, we can’t say the Buzzfeed journalist’s move is out of line.”
The doxing trend may continue to gain followers
It is worth mentioning that Solano and Aronow are not the first big names in the cryptocurrency space to have been publicly brought to light this year, as in early 2022, “0xSifu”, the anonymous treasury manager for the controversial protocol Avalanche-based Wonderland Money was revealed to be an ex-con, as well as co-founder of now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, Michael Patryn.
Patryn’s criminal past caused huge waves within the global crypto landscape way back in 2019, when QuadrigaCX operator Gerald Cotten – who worked closely with Patryn – died under mysterious circumstances, taking with him $169 million worth of investors’ crypto. of dollars.
Following the scandal, Patryn’s real name was revealed to be Omar Dhanani, an accused felon who was forced to spend a total of 18 months in a US federal prison on identity theft charges more than a decade and a half ago. . Upon his release, Dhanani changed his name to Michael Patryn and subsequently became associated with the cryptocurrency space, launching QuadrigaCX and most recently joining the Wonderland team.
So, as we move into a future where crypto businesses continue to become more accepted within the mainstream, it will be interesting to see how much longer pseudonymous operators of various platforms will be able to keep their identities private.
Clarification: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information set forth herein should not be taken as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investment and commercial movement involve risks and it is the responsibility of each person to do their due research before making an investment decision.