DeFi wizard Cronje’s departure sends TVL sinking 

Decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL) is taking a significant dip after pioneer and founder of Yearn Finance Andre Cronje quit crypto with his colleague and senior developer at the Fantom Foundation, Anton Nell, who announced their farewell on Sunday. 

See related article: Fantom overtakes Binance Smart Chain in DeFi TVL

Fast facts

• The TVL on Fantom DeFi dipped by more than 21% since the announcement, while its FTM token price tanked by over 19%, with a near 200% increase in trading volume, indicating a massive sell-off.

• In late January, Fantom overtook Binance Smart Chain to become the third-largest DeFi ecosystem in TVL, but its rapidly declining locked value has brought it down to fifth, just ahead of Solana. 

• DeFi yield optimizer Yearn Finance’s token (YFI) price has tumbled by over 9% since the announcement and is currently trading at US$18,237.68, while its trading volume has surged by over 426% since the announcement. 

• Developers were taken aback by the wild market reaction and clarified that projects like Yearn Finance have other contributors to run them, although the web pages offering user interfaces may be shut down. 
• Nell’s announcement added that around 25 apps and services will be shut from April 3, including Yearn Finance, Chainlist, and Solidly. 

• Cronje had quit crypto in 2020 but returned in the same year with the rise of Yearn Finance. 

See related article: How DeFi’s user interface problems are deterring widespread adoption