Andre Cronje, one of the iconic developers of the DeFi ecosystem, has announced that he is retiring from cryptocurrencies. The news, made official this Sunday by Anton Nell, with whom he worked at the Fantom Foundation (FTM), caused a sharp drop on various assets of the network of the same name.
Andre Cronje bows out of cryptocurrencies
Developer Andre Cronje, who among other things founded Yearn Finance, is stopping his involvement in decentralized finance (DeFi) and cryptocurrencies. The news came this Sunday morning through Anton Nell, one of his colleagues at the Fantom Foundation (FTM) who also announced his departure.
No reason has been given for the moment, except that Anton Nell speaks of a well-considered choice. He informs that this has nothing to do with “DeFi sucks”, a reference to several outbursts from Andre Cronje about the mentality in the sector.
Indeed, Cronje has repeatedly criticized DeFi users for being unconstructive critics and insulting too easily, being here only for the returns without really caring about the protocols.
However, we don’t know if this is one of the reasons that pushed the developer to leave. In addition to the community pressure on social networks, developing in DeFi, is also a major source of mental load, which can motivate a person to want to step back.
The impact of the news on the ecosystem
Following Andre Cronje’s announcement, the impact on Fantom ecosystem asset prices was immediate. Yearn Finance’s YFI, for example, suffered a loss of nearly 14%, falling from $19,800 to $17,400, before recovering later in the day.
FTM also suffered similar losses. But the most notable fall remains that of SOLID, the Solidly protocol token, the developer’s latest creation. Indeed, the asset’s price, which was trading at $2.34 at the time of the announcement, hit a low of $0.80.
Still, the disaster of Andre Cronje’s departure from the DeFi ecosystem is to be put into perspective for the protocols already in place. We’re not taking away any credit for the important work he did, but Yearn Finance, for example, is run by a team of 50 full-time and 140 part-time people. While its founder hasn’t worked there for over a year.
The future of the Fantom ecosystem
As for the Solidly interface, it will be provided by the Solidex project, and whether it’s for the smart-contracts of this protocol, or the others, keep in mind that they remain operational on the network, and are open source to boot. This means that they can continue to work even without their creator.
The Fantom Foundation did not fail to acknowledge and thank the work of this man throughout their collaboration. Of course, it also emphasized the idea that not everything rests in the hands of one person and that this will not impact the future of the ecosystem.
Indirectly, this news highlights the role that decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) can play in the DeFi environment. Indeed, at the beginning of a protocol’s life, it will need its founder or a team, but then this centralization point becomes optional.
The project can then fly on its own, either through its community thanks to a DAO, or, as in the case of the more traditional industry, because the company at its head has grown sufficiently.
