YUGA Labs co-founder Greg Solano said on Wednesday (Feb 21) that he resumed serving as chief executive officer of the startup, which created the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible token (NFT) collection.

In a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Solano, who also goes by the nickname “Gargamel”, thanked former Yuga CEO Daniel Alegre and said that the company would continue focusing on developing its BAYC-inspired Otherside virtual game, which has faced delays in its launch. Yuga Labs confirmed the tweet was accurate to Bloomberg and declined to comment further.

BAYC is the all-time best-selling NFT collection on OpenSea, conducting roughly US$2.9 billion in sales volume, according to the NFT marketplace. During the crypto bull market, the NFTs were crypto’s ultimate status symbols with celebrities such as rappers Snoop Dogg and Eminem purchasing their own Bored Apes. The company raised US$450 million at a US$4 billion valuation in 2022, making it one of the crypto industry’s most valuable startups.

But the company faced criticism over a controversial token project and was sued by investors who claimed that the startup and its celebrity promoters duped them into buying the tokens, since it was not disclosed that the celebrities were being paid to promote the NFTs. The 2022 crypto market crash also hit the NFT market, causing sales to plummet.

Alegre joined Yuga at the end of 2022, leaving a position as chief operating officer of gaming company Activision Blizzard. Under his watch, Yuga continued to work on the Otherside game, which has received mixed reviews for its trailer. The private company also has other games available, including Dookey Dash, which is only accessible to holders of certain NFTs. BLOOMBERG