SushiSwap CTO cites “chaos” and abandons project

Joseph Delong, chief technology officer (CTO) of the popular decentralized exchange (DEX) SushiSwap, stepped down. According to the executive’s statement, his departure will take effect immediately.

The now ex-CTO used his Twitter account to announce his departure from DEX. Delong did not explain the reasons that led him to resign, but warned that SushiSwap would be living in “chaos”.

“I wish Sushi all the best and I’m sad that the project is so threatened inside and out. Chaos is reigning now and there is unlikely to be a resolution that will make DAO go back to being the shadow of what it was before. This will not happen without a radical structural transformation,” said the CTO.

Chaos at SushiSwap

Created on the blockchain ETH, SushiSwap is the third largest DEX in trading volumes, according to data from the CoinGecko website. However, the project has suffered a series of casualties in recent months.

In addition to Delong, the SushiSwap co-founder – who goes by the pseudonym 0xMaki – left DEX’s leadership in September. At the time, 0xMaki himself stated that his resignation was voluntary, but there was a leak of a print taken from the private group of DEX developers.

In the conversation, Delong would have initiated a vote with the team for them to vote on whether 0xMaki should leave. The result was not released, but it is possible that this was the reason for his departure.

On the SushiSwap forum, a message states that 0xMaki has been fired by Delong and other team members. The original post was deleted, but the print was preserved and posted on Twitter.

The full pic. Everything here is true. pic.twitter.com/Ot3Km0DXO7

— WeWantMakiBack (@makibacknow) November 25, 2021

Manipulation threats

Despite Thursday’s announcement, the relationship between Delong and SushiSwap has been strained since last week. The former CTO was particularly indignant with the community, which, in his words, would not be supporting the DEX team.

Last weekend, the former CTO criticized what he described as “absurd slander”, claiming that “there has been a lot of drama inside Sushi and open manipulation coming from the outside”. At the time, Delong threatened to leave if the community did not support the current team.

He also complained about the cuts in his pay, despite receiving $300,000 for his work at SushiSwap. Delong said he received more on the Dapper Labs team, his last job before working at SushiSwap.

“I will transfer all accounts peacefully and build something with the same success and you can find someone else to intimidate,” he added.

SushiSwap has a proposal to transfer the administration of DEX to a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). The purpose of the proposal is precisely to improve the governance of SushiSwap and avoid problems that resulted in the departure of Delong and 0xMaki.

However, Delong expressed doubts that the project, in its current state, will be able to find the right way out. Meanwhile, the SUSHI token dropped 15% after the announcement of the former CTO’s departure, from $6.85 to $5.57.