Eclipse founder Neel Somani departs company after sexual misconduct allegations

Eclipse announced today that it has appointed Vijay Chetty, its chief growth officer, to replace Neel Somani as its new CEO. Its founder Somani will be departing the company, according to Eclipse.

“Chetty brings over a decade of crypto-native experience to the helm, having held leadership positions at Uniswap Labs, dYdX Trading, and Ripple Labs in addition to his investing experience at BlackRock,” Eclipse wrote in an X post.

The replacement comes less than a week after former CEO and founder Somani acknowledged but denied allegations of sexual harassment in an X post. “I have never sexually assaulted or harassed any woman,” Somani wrote last week. “This is a serious issue endemic to our industry and society in general, and I don't mean to minimize it by my denial of these false allegations.”

Somani, who founded the blockchain firm in 2022, announced at the time that he plans to reduce his role as the “public face” of Eclipse. He told The Block last week that he intended to remain active as CEO of Eclipse.

While Eclipse did not detail the reason for Somani’s departure, Web3 venture capital firm Hack VC wrote on X shortly after the announcement that it had worked with other investors of Eclipse to urge Neel to resign. “And we are pleased to see that happen,” Hack VC wrote. The VC co-led Eclipse's $50 million Series A funding in March.

Somani’s X profile has since been changed to remove Eclipse from his description. Instead, it now reads, “I don’t use Twitter.”

Both Eclipse and Somani did not immediately respond to The Block’s request for further comment.

Update, Aug. 28, 19:40 UTC: As of Aug. 28, no charges have been filed against Neel Somani.