Fantom Foundation debunks misinformation after Andre Cronje’s departure

Almost a week ago, Andre Cronje announced his and his colleague Anton Nell’s departure from crypto and DeFi.  Immediately, the rumors of their exits sent the tokens of projects associated with them crashing amidst fears of a rug pull.

Cronje’s associate, Anton Nell announced over Twitter:

“Andre and I have decided that we 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.”

Andre and I have decided that we are closing the chapter of contibuting to the defi/crypto space.
There are around ~25 apps and services that we are terminating on 03 April 2022.
1/3

— Anton Nell (@AntonNellCrypto) March 6, 2022

In the thread, he stated that both have decided to stop contributing to the DeFi space and terminate their relationships with 25 apps and services. Among them are Yearn Finance, Keep3r network, Chainlist, Solidly, Multichain, and Fantom.

The news led to tokens associated with these projects losing a significant percentage of the value, although some have recovered since. Fantom network, where Anton Nell served as a senior solutions architect for the Fantom Foundation, saw an almost 13% drop in the value of its token FTM the first 24 hours after the announcement, per data from CryptoSlate.

Cronje’s not that deep into projects

However, the teams behind several of the projects has tried to clarify matters. According to a tweet by Fantom Foundation, the exit of Cronje doesn’t affect the project as “Fantom isn’t and never was a one-man team. There are 40+ people working at Fantom.”

Also, in a newly published statement, Fantom Foundation clarifies Cronje’s influence and participation in crypto projects. According to the blogpost, neither Cronje nor Nell are involved in these projects to such an extent that their departure would have negative consequences for the future and prosperity of these projects.

“First and foremost, the contributors are what made Fantom as strong as it is today. They are responsible for the network having processed over 200 million transactions with over 2 million active wallets. It is not the work of one individual or a few individuals that have made this possible, but thousands from around the world,” the statement reads.

Cronje and Nell did not “terminate” 25 projects

According to the blogpost, Cronje assisted Fantom as an advisor and provided high-level technical; treasury management advice, and important contacts in the space. Cronje and Nell did not “terminate” 25 projects. Any involvement in these projects was to be handed over to the existing teams, many of whom had been developing and running independently. For example, both Multichain and Yearn Finance have teams that have been operating for years.

Furthermore, Cronje and Nell were never “core developers” of Fantom. Cronje helped establish the existing team of developers, but it is the team themselves that have built the Fantom technology stack.

“Some of the developers on the core team have been with Fantom for years, and are actively making further improvements to the technology going forward. Andre did not “build Fantom’s technology”; No one person can. Andre and Anton have not been running 25 projects simultaneously. No two individuals could, the statement reads.

Debunk rumors and “misinformation”

With this statement, the Fantom Foundation wishes to debunk many of the rumors and “misinformation” that has been circling in the crypto space and ditto media.

“We can’t know if this misinformation is being spread out of ignorance or malice, but we do know that these inaccuracies have the potential to hurt the reputation of Fantom, the Foundation team,  and perhaps most importantly, its community.”