Yuga Labs Faces Backlash From Users For Under Wraps KYC Limited Project

Yuga Labs, creator of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC, teased a new partnership with blockchain game publisher Animoca Brands on Twitter on Thursday. The catch is that no details about the project have yet been revealed and users who signed up for it through a Know Your Customer or KYC verification process have raised their concerns on social media.

BAYC simply tweeted a link to a website where interested fans can apply in hopes of getting approved to participate in whatever is “brewing.” To be eligible, users must connect to an Ethereum wallet, provide a photo of their license, passport or other form of identification, as well as proof of their home address, and take a headshot on the camera of the device they are signing in to.

Both BAYC and Animoca Brands clarified on Twitter that they are not referencing the play-to-earn game with Bored Ape NFTs they announced in December. The only other information being offered is that “this was built in the last seven months,” according to BAYC. Animoca Brands will reportedly to reveal “the first phase.”

Members of the crypto community are wary of agreeing to KYC requirements without knowing exactly what they are signing up for. A user who posted under the handle @cr0ssETH tweeted, “Developers, if the IRS has you hostage, blink twice,” suggesting the possibility that personal information could end up in the hands of third parties.

In addition to the sensitivity surrounding KYC, a Terms of Service document has been criticized for allowing users to “unlimited” use of “all or part of your User Content”.

Another controlled user @maz_nf warned that crypto will soon turn into a “government-regulated enterprise”, acknowledging the inevitability of an NFT community to adhere to regulations and legalities to truly go mainstream.

Related: Harmony Launches Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Passport

These views sparked the debate over whether NFTs should be regulated and whether KYC should be integrated into NFT marketplaces. Recently, OpenSea has been the subject of phishing attacks and hacks that have left NFT owners very vulnerable. In December 2021, an art gallery owner’s Bored Apes collection, worth $2.2 million, was stolen from his hot wallet.

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