DeFi Star Developer Andre Cronje Calls it Quits

Several tokens associated with crypto developer Andre Cronje, who represent the governance of decentralized finance (DeFi) projects and apps, plummeted over the weekend after South Africa announced plans to leave space forever.

according to Tweet On Saturday, Anton Nell, a colleague of Cronje and a former senior solutions architect of the Fantom Foundation, spoke on behalf of Cronje and decided to stop contributing to the “defi / cryptospace” and related projects.

No apparent reason for leaving the DeFi sector is given. It’s unclear if the pair will continue to contribute to projects other than DeFi. Cronje deleted his Twitter account last week and updated LinkedIn to reflect that he wasn’t working at Fantom.

Of the 25 projects, the most notable ones are related to Yearn Finance, Keep3r Network, Multichain.xyz, smart contract protocol exchange Solidly, Chainlist and Bribe Crv Finance, Nell said. Some projects will obviously be carried out by others, Nell added.

According to a new message from several websites affiliated with many developers, the front-end service for most projects is expected to end by April 3, but with open source code and smart contracts, others Can fill in the blanks left by Cronje. As Yearn.fi.

For example, Yearn.Finance (the main entry point for the protocol) continues unabated, and Yearn’s main pseudonym developer, called Bantage, Immediate notes on Twitter Cronje has not contributed to the “more than a year” project.

Toxic DeFi culture?

In 2020, Cronje told Decrypt that he was trying to quit cryptocurrencies, citing the “toxic” DeFi community as the main reason. These comments came five months after Cronje, then known as iEarn Finance, left Year.

This announcement is reminiscent of previous announcements made by Cronje, but Nell said this time it’s significantly different and clear.

“Unlike stopping the wrath of the previous’defisucks’, this isn’t a kneeling reaction to the hatred we’ve received from the project’s release, it’s a decision that’s been coming for some time,” Nell said in a follow-up tweet.

Shortly after the announcement on Twitter, dozens of native tokens associated with Nell and Cronje, or linked to projects and apps founded by Nell and Cronje, began to decline. Fantom’s token (FTM), where Cronje had been in the technical sector for three years, decreased by 17.5%.

The Fantom Foundation has pointed out its large team to minimize the impact of Cronje’s move.

Keeper Network tokens (Keep3r) suffered a greater loss and were down 35%, while Yearn Finance tokens (YFI) were down 12.6% and 8.6% before a slight recovery. All other tokens mentioned in the tweet follow a similar pattern.

Set an example

Cronje has many carriers in cryptocurrencies. According to the LinkedIn page, Cronje has held numerous positions within the community, including Technology Head of the Fusion Foundation, Technology Analyst at Lemniscap, and Code Reviewer at Crypto Briefing, a news outlet. He has also developed and contributed to numerous DeFi projects such as Yearn Finance, Curve Finance and Fantom.

A source speaking anonymously and a former colleague of Cronje told Blockworks on Sunday that he was impressed with the “exciting work” of the developer who set the example.

“Andre is an impressive and deep thinker with big questions,” said a source. “He has an important and positive influence … his departure will have an impact.”

Blockworks sources also added that the crypto market generally tends to overreact to events like these, and that the projects outlined in Nell’s tweet still have “exceptional” people working. ..

“They will still reach their big goals,” sources said.

Blockworks tried to contact Cronje but did not receive a reply by the press time.

Macauley Peterson contributed to the report of this story.

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