"DeFi Pioneer Breaks Silence: SEC Probe, Resignation, and Sonic's Surge"

Andre Cronje, often referred to as the "Father of DeFi," has finally broken his silence on his resignation from Yearn.Finance (YFI) and the subsequent investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In a statement published on his personal blog on Jan. 28, 2025, Cronje revealed that he had been protecting his products from accusations for nearly two years.

Cronje explained that the SEC's primary interest was in the income he received from his involvement with YFI and Keep3r (KP3R), as well as the mechanism for raising funds. He emphasized that from the beginning of the protocol's operations, he earned zero fees from Yearn and worked without a founder, team, or allocation. Additionally, he stated that he never sold anything to U.S. residents and had only visited the U.S. once.

Cronje's decision to step away from YFI and KP3R came after two years of dealing with constant attacks and the need to defend his work. He released a series of posts on regulation in the DeFi segment before quitting and was forced by investigators to keep the information about SEC allegations secret.

In March 2022, Cronje and Anton Nell announced their departure from the DeFi sector, which led to a collapse in the DeFi token segment. However, Cronje returned in 2023 with the idea of rebranding the Fantom (FTM) blockchain into Sonic (S). Since the rebranding announcements, Sonic's aggregated total value locked (TVL) has jumped by 66%, making it one of the fastest-growing layer-1 networks.