DRINKS ON FONZ: Yuga Labs Acquires Tokenproof From BAYC Member FonzGM!

Drinks are on Fonz! On Monday, the Tokenproof founder and longtime Bored Ape Yacht Club member announced that he has sold his Web3 asset verification business to Yuga Labs for an undisclosed amount.

What began as an idea while FonzGM waited in line at the first-ever ApeFest in 2021 has evolved into one of Web3’s most significant use cases, enabling secure NFT ownership verification. Now, the technology has come full circle, finding its new home with the team that inspired it—Yuga Labs.

“When we started tokenproof, our mission was to provide a secure way for crypto users to unlock utility of their tokens, especially IRL. I’m incredibly proud to say we achieved that mission,” FonzGm tweeted. “Tokenproof was inspired by ApeFest 2021 at NFTNYC. At the time, there were numerous events requiring NFT ownership, but no effective infrastructure to verify ownership in the real world. That realization jump-started the idea to develop the company. Since our launch at SXSW 2022, we’ve been fortunate to collaborate with Yuga Labs time and time again, including supporting every ApeFest since. We have always admired Yuga and how they’ve navigated the opportunities and challenges of this dynamic market, just as we have. Thanks to our years of partnership, this transition will be seamless. I’m confident this is a fantastic outcome for everyone, and I’m excited to see our team succeed at Yuga Labs.”

 

 

After Fonz’s announcement, Yuga Labs CEO Garga took to the timeline to share that the company’s Workshop team has big plans for Tokenproof’s technology.

“A big part of BAYC has always been about finding new ways to leverage NFTs,  whether it's access for digital or physical events, merch, games, or just crazy experiments,” Garga tweeted. “Together with tokenproof, we tackled a bunch of thorny problems, so that your monkey jpeg could safely and efficiently get you into a festival across the world. That was just scratching the surface. Happy for tokenproof's tech to find a new home at Yuga, and for part of the tokenproof team to join our R&D division, The Workshop, where we're cooking on a bunch of exciting stuff to make crypto and NFTs more accessible and more fun.”

 

As the Bored Ape Gazette previously reported, The Workshop is Yuga Labs’ in-house team of 13 degen-brained developers focused on creating ApeChain products and dApps, such as the trading simulation game Top Trader.

The Bored Ape Gazette will continue to follow Tokenproof’s acquisition and will let you know what Yuga Labs builds with the tech. Stay tuned for updates!