One of the only nice things about the cryptocurrency and NFT markets crashing and burning is that we’re less likely to see more of those stupid “Bored Ape” NFTs. People “bought” the NFTs – which are just really basic ape digital art – for thousands of dollars, sometimes even tens of thousands of dollars. Some celebrities still have their Bored Apes as their social media icons. Actor Seth Green was very into NFTs. He purchased several of the Bored Apes, and he was already making a half-animated TV series based on one of his Bored Apes. But his Bored Ape was stolen in a phishing scam… so now Green can’t make his show.
Actor and producer Seth Green was robbed of several NFTs this month after succumbing to a phishing scam that inadvertently threw a monkey wrench into the plan for his new animated series. The forthcoming show was developed from characters in Green’s expansive NFT collection, but in light of the recent hack, the project’s blatant crypto optimism has become a tragically ironic reminder of the industry’s shadier side.
On Saturday, Green teased a trailer for White Horse Tavern at the NFT conference VeeCon. A twee comedy, the show seems to be based on the question, “What if your friendly neighborhood bartender was Bored Ape Yacht Club #8398?” In an interview with entrepreneur and crypto hype man Gary Vaynerchuk, Green said he wanted to imagine a universe where “it doesn’t matter what you look like, what only matters is your attitude.”
Unfortunately for Green, what also matters is copyright law. And when the actor’s NFT collection was pilfered by a scammer in early May, he lost the commercial rights to his show’s cartoon protagonist, a scruffy Bored Ape named Fred Simian, whose likeness and usage rights now belong to someone else.
“I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show,” Green told Vaynerchuk. “Then days before — his name is Fred by the way — days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped.” Green did not respond to a tweet from BuzzFeed News regarding the show.
On May 8, an anonymous scammer swiped four of Green’s NFTs in a phishing scheme. Green mourned his “stolen” assets on Twitter, where he announced the losses of a Bored Ape, two Mutant Apes, and a Doodle, which were transferred out of Green’s wallet after he unknowingly interacted with a phishing site. One of the Mutant Apes was flipped for $42,000, Motherboard reported. Transaction ledgers show the Bored Ape was also sold by the scammer to a pseudonymous collector known as “DarkWing84,” who purchased it for more than $200,000. The NFT was then swiftly transferred to a collection called “GBE_Vault,” which is where it currently sits.
Seth could… buy another Bored Ape. Or hire an artist on commission to create a whole new animated character. Or he could delve further into the murky world of NFT copyright ownership, I guess. What is the most annoying part of the story to you? For me, it’s two things: digital wallets are unsafe AND the fact that Seth was going to make a TV show about his stupid Bored Ape.
Not true since the art was stolen. A buyer who purchased stolen art with real money and refuses to return it is not legally entitled to exploitation usage of the underlying IP. It’ll go to court, but I’d prefer to meet @DarkWing84 before that. Seems we’d have lots in common.
— Seth Green (@SethGreen) May 24, 2022
Well frens it happened to me. Got phished and had 4NFT stolen. @BoredApeYC @opensea @doodles @yugalabs please don’t buy or trade these while I work to resolve:@DarkWing84 looks like you bought my stolen ape- hit me up so we can fix it pic.twitter.com/VL1OVnd44m
— Seth Green (@SethGreen) May 17, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Everything about about this is stupid,
@ThatsNotOkay, MTE— your comment is word-for-word what ran through my head as soon as I read this.
I’m grateful for Kaiser’s coverage, though, so I at least have a *clue* about these kinds of things.
ETA @GirlNinja, same on all points.
I was going to say “this is such stupid bullsh*t.” Same page. But yes, appreciate the coverage.
I still don’t understand how NFT’s work and don’t have any desire to find out. This and crypto currency are nothing but made up Ponzi like schemes. How embarrassing for Seth and others who delve into this shady nonsense.
In only the slightest defense of both, I think much of the 3D commercial art world and financial speculation are also Ponzi schemes.
To be fair, you probably don’t understand it because it’s intentionally confusing and, frankly, scammy. In simplest terms, an NFT is a digital image where, in the metadata, it shows you as the rightful owner. That metadata is stored using blockchain technology. The NFT is then held in a digital wallet where it can be resold.
Seth clicked on a phishing scam link, which caused his NFT to be transferred from his digital wallet to the scammer’s wallet. The scammer then turned around and sold the NFT to DarkWing84. Seth is incorrectly saying it was stolen/kidnapped (he’s not alive, Seth. So not a kidnapping.) when what really happened is that he got scammed and effectively gave away his NFT.
What you’re actually paying for is the “ownership” of the IP. I use ownership in air quotes because there is nothing stopping someone from right click-saving the image. Owned property usually has some exclusion mechanism, which is part of what gives the property its value.
If you really want to learn why you should avoid the crypto/NFT space, just read the Wikipedia entry on the free banking era. There are reasons we regulate minting money and the transfer of assets. Too many of these tech bros are convinced they’re on the cutting edge when really they’re just reusing previous bad ideas and adding the internet.
Aww poor didums – I guess he can make a show now about it called ‘How a Bored Ape got Scammed’.
This guys has always annoyed me for some reason – he has such a smug vibe about him.
I’m gonna give Seth a little credit on the TV show because I watched Robot Chicken and thought they were pretty good. If the Bored Ape was gonna be in line with Chicken, I will give it a watch.
Cash American, please. Or gold bars, if you have some sitting about and you need some room. 😀
I don’t feel one ounce of sympathy for him.
I have been largely ignoring all things crypto and NFT ,but i wonder if its one of those things i need to learn about before i get left behind.
Look, you understand all of that stuff and want to take the risk ? Do you. Please don’t try to convince the rest of us to do so.
The most 2022 story I have read in a minute. Some people simply don’t deserve to be as rich as they are.
I don’t understand – did he get an email from a Nigerian prince asking for an NFT in exchange for $10,000,000?
to me, the copyright stuff is the most interesting (nerd alert!). i’m glad green responded to the claim that he lost copyright because the images were stolen-that didn’t sound correct so ‘m glad he corrected that. nfts are so ephemeral, i wish i knew more about how copyright laws apply to them. i’d be interested to hear from anyone with real world knowledge of the issues.
i think Serena’s hubby paid 4mill for her pink Ape, and i thought the image didnt matter because what you actually own is the certificate
NFTs sound more and more like they’re part of the whole Crypto currency Ponzi/Pyramid scheme landscape. And real artists keep getting their work stolen and turned into NFTs and losing out altogether. Some of these artists have stopped putting their work online because of this.