The Outing of 0xb1
The elusive ‘OG’ known only by the Twitter handle @0x_b1 enjoys legendary status in the world of De-Fi and NFTs. As the quest for mainstream legitimacy forces the cryptosphere to confront its addiction to anonymity, I delve into the enigma of one of its most charismatic and mysterious characters.
0xb1 may seem like a strange name for a celebrity, but that has not deterred renowned Hollywood talent agency CAA from signing up the NFT collector behind the persona to lead them into the new age of Web 3.0. Beginning as simply an Ethereum wallet address that took the unusual step of acquiring a Twitter handle, 0xb1 has become somewhat of cult hero, personified in the image of a bored ape.
So who, or what, is 0xb1? And does it really matter if his, its or their identity is revealed?
Preferred Pronouns
Anonymity makes appropriation of pronouns even more fun than non-binary gender politics does. 0xb1 has been variously referred to as ‘he’, ‘it’ and ‘they’ (though strangely never ‘she’) during his, its or their roughly two and a half-year lifetime in the public eye.
Beginning its existence as a notable wallet address visibly responsible for hundreds of transactions seven days a week, it was clear in the early days that 0xb1 was clearly not just one person but a coordinated group of highly skilled leverage traders.
Fast-forward to the days of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and FODL Finance however, and the same persona is now more depicted as a single individual in the public imagination. I mention this because, irrespective of the facts, 0xb1 are in full control of their own narrative. Furthermore, the legend has already become distinct from reality, rendering the supposedly inevitable doxxing (crypto-speak for revealing one’s hidden identity) a somewhat of a non-event.
The human spokesperson for the @0x_b1 Twitter handle spoke to a live audience on Twitter Spaces just a few days ago (more on that further down) and surprisingly, sounded nothing at all like the Wizard of Oz.
As a FODL Boatlifter and a Fixer, I’m apparently one of the few people to have seen the face of 0xb1 and incredibly, he wasn’t even wearing his lone-ranger mask.
Anyone would think he didn’t really care about hiding his identity. I’ve come to think of 0xb1’s ‘anonymity’ more in keeping with that of my uncle Ernie pretending to be Santa Claus than a Scooby Doo villain or a Banksy. Any physical description I might give would only narrow him down to about 100 million men — and here’s the salient point that may come to frame the discussion of identity in the crypto world: 0xb1 is a unique force in the universe; his/their ‘real’ name(s) and facial features are not.
There’s a fourth pronoun we can add to the list. In an interview with The Defiant back in January 2021 when probed about identity, the given response was:
“Including the community that is supporting us, we are 0xb1.”
Such a rally-cry dilutes the impact that a doxxing of the core team would have on the mystique of the 0xb1 brand. In essence, the legacy has already been established. Now it’s time for a new chapter.
A Social Experiment
The 0xb1 wallet address began to attract attention in late 2020 when it established itself as a massive and extremely active fund on the Ethereum network, with just under $300m in net worth and up to $450m swirling around the ecosystem at any given moment. This crypto whale (the term given to wallets fat enough to influence markets) gained a reputation as a yield farming beast, responsible for over 1% of all of the activity in the space and at one point turning a profit of $75k-$100k per hour for a period of several days.
Among others, one-time analyst and researcher turned investor Nick Chong noticed the wallet’s impressive activity and began tracking its movements. What really excited Chong about this particular whale however, was the fact that much unlike other private funds, this one was actively engaging with the public. In fact, 0xb1 even reached out and responded to Chong’s Twitter thread, pointing out where his analysis was inaccurate.
The @0x_b1 Twitter account was opened in November 2020 and passed the milestone of 100k followers just a few days ago.
By January 2021 0xb1 was in philanthropic mode, stoking up its newfound fanbase with a giveaway of $450k in assets, including $150k prize money for a competition to create NFTs to commemorate the Ethereum address and its involvement in various decentralised projects. Donations of tokens were also pumped into automated market makers to increase incentives for miners. 0xb1 was single-handedly growing the De-Fi space.
It became clear that this activist investor whale had a motive that coincided with making a shit-ton of money for its backers, announcing the giveaway on Twitter with a statement of intent as subtle as it was humble:
“Without the people, there is no DeFi… We are champions of the people of #DeFi…”
The interview with The Defiant soon followed, in which the human embodiment of 0xb1 mused over the future of DeFi and investment banking as well as revealing the method behind the madness of the Twitter handle.
“People started taking notice of our work on the 0xb1 address and we wanted to communicate to the community. We realise that because we are perhaps one of the biggest proponents of DeFi, our words and actions are valued by others, so we wanted to take up the opportunity to voice our thoughts and insights with the ecosystem. We also saw potential value in this as a social experiment and it’s worked.”
The same interview also served as an opportunity to further deepen the 0xb1 enigma with a revelation that spawned more questions than answers:
“…we ponder why anyone would think that the entire sphere of 0xb1 and our strategies would be contained to a single address. Key pieces of our strategies are not seen and therefore not understood.”
Ever a sophisticated public speaker, he refrained from adding a ‘Mua-ha-ha-ha.’
0xb1 and the Bored Ape Yacht Club
The 0xb1 powerhouse then reinvented itself with chameleon-like finesse that would have made Bowie or Dylan proud in the spring of 2021, instantly recognising the true significance of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and building its brand around the very image that has come to symbolise the Web 3.0 revolution.
Only a few months after their ‘champions of the people of De-Fi’ proclamation, the group parted ways with the investor(s) that had provided their vehicle thus far and began working on a new project — FODL Finance. In a remarkable coincidence however, this parting of ways took place just a few short weeks after the minting of a certain 10,000 simian NFTs. You might have heard of them.
Demonstrating almost clairvoyant vision yet again, 0xb1 had identified what could arguably be the artistic movement that defines a generation and their association with the BAYC marked a nuclear fusion not just of the two largest brands in the respective spaces of NFTs and De-Fi but of the spaces themselves.
Bored Ape Yacht Club epitomised a new type of community built upon common ideals rather than geography or circumstance, one purpose built for the exciting new world of the Metaverse. United by marginalisation and propelled by apathy, a finer ‘personification’ of 0xb1 — Spartacus to the empire of Trad-Fi — one could not hope to find.
FODL Finance
In September 2021 the group made contact with its followers once again with the announcement of the project they had been working on since May of that year. The post included another, subtler but no less bombastic, self-defining statement of intent:
“[We are] a team of crypto natives and technologist degens committed to the ethos, the culture and future of the decentralised economy.”
FODL Finance is a solution to a problem the team encountered back in their days as a yield farming whale. As pointed out by Nick Chong, way back in January the fund had already paid over $150k in gas fees while amassing their fortune. The reason was that they were using a method called folding in order to effectively leverage positions, which unfortunately involved multiple transactions during peak times.
Fodl is of course, a play on words combining ‘fold’ and ‘hodl’.
The FODL platform is the first of its kind, utilising — as they themselves describe it — several money ‘legos’ of the DeFi ecosystem. In short, it allows users to provide collateral in stablecoins and open leveraged positions using flash loans from lending dApps Compound and Aave. For the first time, users are able to trade with leverage without paying crippling fees to market makers. What’s more, the platform recently expanded to the BSC network, which offers significantly lower gas fees than Ethereum, thus opening it up to smaller-time users.
By November 2021 0xb1’s status as a celebrity was made official when the Twitter handle was verified as belonging to the famous Ethereum address. In order to promote FODL Finance, they announced the greatest NFT giveaway in history, to be used as prizes in a trading competition — this coming almost exactly a year since the group had set the DeFi space on fire with its previous giveaway. This time a relative fortune would be distributed in the form of Bored Ape Kennel Club NFTs, the BAYC’s follow up series minted in June 2021, when each Bored Ape was given a unique dog for company.
The Great Mutant Reveal
22nd February 2022 was the palindromic date chosen to reveal the first three winners of the FODL giveaway and at 11pm UTC the online ceremony began on Twitter Spaces, with 0xb1 and close associates masters of ceremony. One of the last remaining holders of an extremely rare and unused M3 mutant serum NFT (another BAYC spin-off series that turns existing apes into mutants), 0xb1 also marked the occasion by using the serum to create the Mega Trippy Ape.
In the build up to the reveal, longtime 0xb1 associate AxelApe also marked the occasion by revealing his true identity as Guy Benartzi, co-founder of revolutionary decentralised exchange platform Bancor.
If you attended the event, which lasted just over two and a half hours, you’ll have heard many of the major players in the NFT space sharing their thoughts on the future and while each OG shared their perspective on the world that they themselves have genuinely helped create, some common themes emerged.
0xb1 spoke at length of utility of NFTs in the DeFi space, which aligns nicely with the CAA deal mentioned at the beginning of this article. The collaboration will look into licensing that now extremely valuable NFT collection to high profile partners in the world of traditional media. In addition, 0xb1 will take on an advisory role for major brands looking to enter the space.
“What’s really pleased me is this NFT-ification of certain parts of the De-Fi space. I know that sounds a little ridiculous, but I’m a really passionate believer in utility use cases.”
Now as digital assets go mainstream before our eyes, major players are increasingly encouraged to give up their anonymity — one of the defining pillars of the whole crypto ethos. Simply put, regulation is virtually impossible in the current status quo and real-world acceptance will never be a reality without it. As a pioneer in the field, FODL Finance has made a commitment to its community to engage in transparency in a truly meaningful way.
The writing is on the (bathroom) wall; pretty soon 0xb1 may be at least partially removing its hood. That is to say, the man that fronts the team behind the Twitter handle that fronts the Ethereum address behind the Bored Ape on the yellow brick road to Hollywood, may soon be doxxing.
I’m happy to have been able to clear that one up for you.
Yet when I look at the complexity of the phenomenon that is 0xb1, what each element in the above list means to various people inside the De-Fi space and beyond it, I’m reminded of who 0xb1 really is, regardless of the hood.
Including the community that is supporting us, we are 0xb1.
Disclaimer: This article is not trading nor investment advice nor financial advice. I am not a financial advisor. The above article is for informational and educational purposes only. Please do your own research before making any financial decision especially purchasing or investing in any stock or digital asset.
