Billions of Dollars Within DeFi in Jeopardy as Andre Cronje Quits

Andre Cronje, the famed creator of Yearn Finance and Keep3r, has contributed immensely to the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, however, alongside Fantom software architect Anton Nell, he is now quitting the industry, according to a Tweet posted by Nell on March 6th, 2022.

Developers leaving DeFi Projects

Anton Nell posted a Tweet where he said that he and Andre Cronje decided that they “are closing the chapter of contributing to the DeFi/crypto space. There are around ~25 apps and services that we are terminating on 03 April 2022.”

The most notable projects developed by the iconic duo include Yearn Finance the Keep3r Network, Bribe Finance, Solidly, and more. At one point in its history, the Yearn.finance token even reached $90k in value.

Analysts have warned that Cronje’s sudden departure has the potential to put billions of dollars of investor funds at risk.

Nell elaborated that this decision has been in the making for some time and pointed to a blog post published by Cronje in January last year titled “Building in DeFi Sucks (Part 2).“

The prices of tokens linked to the developers fell sharply following this news, during which the Yearn Finance token, known as YFI, slumped by 13%. Similarly, the total assets under the Fantom protocol have fallen by more than $4.4 billion since March 3rd.

On the Flipside

• Th shock decision could pave the way for other alternative DeFi projects to take the spotlight, potentially increasing their utility, and overall value.

Why You Should Care

The cryptocurrency industry is volatile at the best of times, and the fact that developers can simply decide to terminate projects without prior notice is a scary prospect faced by the entire cryptocurrency industry. However, the decision does shine give the opportunity for alternative projects, which are more well-established, to take the spotlight.