[2] Owners of a Bored Ape NFT are granted access to a private online club, exclusive in-person events, and intellectual property rights for the image.

Membership to the club includes access to THE BATHROOM (stylized in all caps), a digital graffiti board where users commonly "draw dicks," according to the founder.

[20][21] In February 2022, Gargamel and Gordon Goner's identities were revealed to be Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, respectively, by BuzzFeed News.

[23][14] Solano and Aronow brought in two friends of theirs, No Sass and Emperor Tomato Ketchup, programmers who could handle the blockchain coding.

[14] 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.

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.

[24] 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.

[24] BAYC co-founder Gargamel stated that "Thomas Dagley, Migwashere, and a couple who chose to remain anonymous" handled traits and environments.

In response to the popularity surrounding Bored Ape, Aronow stated that BAYC was aiming to be a "Web3 lifestyle company.

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.

[33] In December 2022, Activision Blizzard COO Daniel Alegre succeeded Nicole Muniz as CEO of Yuga Labs in an effort to shift the company toward metaverse gaming projects.

[34] In January 2023, Yuga Labs launched an endless runner video game called Dookey Dash for holders of the BAYC NFTs.

Getting the highest score granted the player a "golden key" NFT, which Twitch streamer Mongraal won and subsequently sold to Adam Weitsman for $1.6 million.

[5] On December 8, 2022, a class action lawsuit was filed against the Bored Ape Yacht Club parent company, Yuga Labs, alleging their product is an unregistered security that was promoted through fraudulent undisclosed celebrity endorsements.

[37] The class action names many celebrities who promoted the NFTs such as Diplo, Snoop Dogg, Post Malone, Kevin Hart as well as Yuga Labs' business partner, Guy Oseary, in being part of the 'scheme'.

[42] Bored Apes, along with other character-based NFTs, would become "a status symbol for owners who regularly use their animated creatures as avatars on social media".

[17] Senior Writer, Kate Knibbs from Wired called the popularity of Bored Apes "a gimmick, plain and simple".

[47] Many online media publications wrote about celebrities collecting Bored Apes in late 2021 and early 2022; Eminem, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shaquille O'Neal, Neymar, Snoop Dogg, Mark Cuban, Post Malone, Stephen Curry, Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, and Serena Williams are among various celebrities noted to have purchased Bored Apes.

[51] Bored Ape Yacht Club holds hosted events in New York, California, Hong Kong, and the UK for its owners.

In November 2021, the company held a yacht party and a performance featuring Chris Rock, Aziz Ansari, and The Strokes as part of an entertainment weekend in New York;[16] an "ApeFest" event in June 2022 at South Street Seaport featured LCD Soundsystem and Haim alongside "Doop Snogg", a Snoop Dogg impersonator who several attendees confused for the real Snoop Dogg.

[49] Wired described the segment as having the "stiff, cheery cadence of a bad infomercial", and wrote that the clip going viral was "fueled by people making fun of how off-putting it was".

[18] Writing for the publication, Kate Knibbs wrote negatively of Bored Apes, and contrasted it to Comedian, a 2019 artwork by Maurizio Cattelan of a banana duct taped to a wall, where the buyer received instructions for recreating the artwork rather than an actual banana: The Bored Ape Yacht Club, in contrast, is a grimmer kind of gimmick, one that parodies nothing.

"[55] In November 2023, guests reported burning pain in their eyes and vision problems after attending a Bored Ape event known as "ApeFest," in Hong Kong.

[56] On November 6, Bored Ape Yacht Club stated they were aware of the incident and claimed "...we believe that much less than 1% of those attending and working the event had these symptoms."

[58] Record executive Damon Dash,[39] American rapper Freddie Gibbs[59] and 8chan founder Fredrick Brennan have stated that they believe Bored Ape Yacht Club looks racist.

[68] The judge ruled that Ripps and his partner Jeremy Cahen had committed "false designation of origin" and "cybersquatting" and that Yuga Labs was entitled to an injunction and damages.