Internal war breaks out at DefiLlama as 'rogue' employees reject token plan
Quick Take
- An internal war has broken out between employees at DefiLlama over the data company’s future.
- In a statement, the corporation said it plans “resolve things privately and amicably.”
A pseudonymous employee of DefiLlama, 0xngmi, forked a version of the blockchain data platform after accusing the company's founders of launching a token without support.
"There is an ongoing attempt to launch a token that does not represent us," 0xngmi said on Twitter, while verifying on-chain that their account had not been hacked. "We don't want to be associated with it."
The DeFi platform hinted yesterday at a token airdrop on Twitter after celebrating its aggregator platform hitting $5 billion in volume. The decision to launch the token went against the wishes of most of the team, according to two DefiLlama contributors on Twitter. 0xngmi also added that the person pushing for the token was in control of the website and Twitter account.
“Long story short, there was someone planning to launch a LLAMA token without approval of a single person on the DeFiLlama team,” said Tendeeno, a contributor to Llama Corp. projects, on Twitter.
0xngmi is a top contributor to DefiLlama’s app on Github. Several other top code contributors to the Github repository have also shared 0xngmi’s message on moving to the new platform, following the push for a token.
DefiLlama’s parent company, Llama Corp., has denied that a hostile takeover is underway, suggesting that 0xngmi's actions are independent.
Resolution sought
"Llama Corp. will continue operating DefiLlama as it has done for the past three years," the company said in a statement to The Block. "The actions of 0xngmi are regrettable. We are hoping to resolve things privately and amicably."
DefiLlama’s intern and the company’s Telegram account also refer to 0xngmi and other team members as having “gone rogue.”
“They are actively looking to seize DefiLlama IP and community while inaccurately claiming the rightful owner to be doing a hostile takeover," said a post on the DefiLlama Round Up Telegram account.
DefiLlama was co-founded by Charlie Watkins and Ben Hauser, who keep low profiles. Many of the company’s employees maintain pseudonymous identities. Some further details about the founders were revealed when the company recently launched a news website called DLNews.
0xngmi's forked platform is currently hosted as Llama.fi.
© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
