Andre Cronje is the Godfather of DeFi. He & his partner are leaving the DeFi space and will be shutting down several of their projects. Rugpull? WTF happened? Here are my thoughts:
Andre is an introvert. He's one of those gigabrains that wants to be behind the scenes and build. A turning point happened when he announced the ve(3,3) project. Andre would build, and Danielle Sesta would handle the marketing & build hype. A match made in heaven.
In late January, "Sifugate" came out. Dani's reputation took a HUGE hit. Dani had to step down from ve(3,3) & other projects to focus on Wonderland.
Well, this left Andre alone to handle the SOLID project. Keep in mind that Andre likes being behind the scenes. Now he was the face of the project. That meant handling the PR, decisions, and drama surrounding the project. He didn't sign up for any of that.
Everyone was fighting for the top 20 positions on @solidlyexchange. People were PISSED off and confused. Why? Original FTM protocols (Like LiquidDriver) were losing their spots to newly formed DAOS like (weVe)
And when @solidlyexchange finally launched, it was rough. Some bugs. Lots of confusion. People weren't happy with the UI. The Whales were playing their games as usual.
You could see Andre starting to get fed up.
- He declared on Twitter that he'd only shitpost from now on.
Instead of posting valuable insights, he'd just share memes 10x a day.
- A few days ago, he deactivated his Twitter.
And then a few hours ago, his partner Anton dropped this bomb. They would be leaving the DeFi space and shutting down all projects. FTM's price has dropped by 15.25% in the past 24 hrs.
Was this a RUG? Nah. I see a developer who signed up to build but didn't sign up for all the bullshit & drama that comes with it. He reached a tipping point where it wasn't worth it for him anymore.
Especially when he has made enough to set himself up for several lifetimes financially. It's tough being a developer. And now that we're in a bear'ish market, everyone's way more toxic. Was it worth his mental health to keep going? No.
What happens to his projects? The price action's going to be ROUGH. But the projects will be fine - others will pick up the torch. That's the beauty of DeFi.
What happens to FTM now? Don't fade the FTM developers - they are the most resilient developers @LiquidDriver , @beethoven_x , @tombfinance , @spirit_swap
, @spookyswap , @tarotfinance , & countless others. They will keep building.
While Andre / Dani are SUPER talented, DeFi does not live & die because of them. There will be a new generation of builders who will keep innovating. Yes, things are rough now - It's a different vibe than last year. But DeFi's just getting started.
Do I think Andre's gone forever? No. Guys like Andre are cut from a different cloth. He's not the kind of guy that can chill on a beach forever. Building is his drug. He'll come back to get his fix sooner or later.
It's Sunday - your Boy went the extra mile on his day off. If you enjoyed this, please like/retweet the tweet below so others can see it!
Some people are speculating that they're shutting down due to legal & regulation reasons. It's possible. Maybe they "disappear" now and come back in a few months under a different ANON identity?