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Bored Ape Yacht Club Controversy: Singapore Man Sues for Loan, Actor Seth Green's Copyright Used in Show Stolen

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Bored Ape Yacht Club Controversy: Singapore Man Sues for Loan, Actor Seth Green

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is currently one of the most iconic NFTs. The innovative added value of NFTs, such as "NFT lending" and "copyright usage," is also frequently utilized by BAYC holders. These applications are all emerging attempts in the NFT space, and there have been two recent controversial cases that are worthy of discussion within the community.

Singapore Court Grants Protection: Delayed Repayment of BAYC Loan, Creditor Refuses Negotiation

NFTfi is a platform that facilitates lending between NFT holders and fund providers. NFT holders can collateralize their NFTs, request a loan amount and term, and set repayment rates; fund providers can also propose their own terms and negotiate with NFT holders.

According to Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times, a Singaporean man named Janesh Rajkumar, who is also a BAYC holder, successfully obtained protection over his BAYC from the High Court, prohibiting his creditor from transferring or selling the NFT collateral; due to a lending dispute with a fund provider named "chefpierre," who refuses to accept repayment and return BAYC 2162. Currently, BAYC 2162 is in chefpierre's wallet.

Janesh claims that he frequently uses the rare BAYC for lending and explicitly states in the lending agreement that he does not relinquish ownership of the NFT and will fully repay the loan; in the event of inability to repay on time, he would negotiate an extension with the fund provider. It is also stipulated in the agreement that the fund provider cannot obtain BAYC 2162 through "stop-loss redemption."

Janesh and chefpierre had several lending experiences, but in March of this year, Janesh proposed refinancing and delaying repayment, which chefpierre refused. Chefpierre demanded repayment within less than seven hours, threatening to use "stop-loss redemption" to obtain BAYC 2162, which Janesh failed to repay in time. Even though Janesh made partial repayment, it was rejected by chefpierre.

The Singapore Court recognizes NFTs as assets and ultimately granted Janesh a protection order over his NFT, resulting in BAYC 2162 being banned from trading on OpenSea. However, other platforms like Looksrare have not blocked it, and chefpierre has not listed it on that platform.

This incident demonstrates that NFTs can be considered assets in court and the agreements conducted on blockchain platforms are legally enforceable; however, whether chefpierre can insist on selling it on-chain through other means and the jurisdiction of law enforcement agencies are also worth discussing.

US Actor's NFT Stolen After Using Bored Ape for Show

Individual BAYC holders have full commercial rights over their NFTs, and US actor Seth Green exercised the rights of BAYC 8398 to film a show. However, tragically, this BAYC was stolen in May this year due to a phishing scam. He lost BAYC 8398 and other NFTs, along with their copyright usage. What will happen now?

The BAYC has been sold and transferred, and OpenSea has marked it as suspicious activity, banning trading:

Several US lawyers have expressed their opinions on Twitter, some believe that the "unlawful" thief will not have copyright ownership, while others think that the current owner may not have copyright permission, depending on property law and copyright law interpretations, as BAYC's licensing is ambiguous.