Opyn DeFi protocol founders are leaving crypto after CFTC leak.
Zubin Koticha and Alexis Gauba, founders of the Opyn decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, left the project and “left crypto,” according to a statement from Koticha, posted on social media on November 14. The description comes in approximately two. Months after Opin received an enforcement action from the United States Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Hey CryptoTwitter,
It has been many times
This is hard…
After the regulatory action against Opyn, @alexisgauba and I decided to release crypto.
This is really emotional for me and Alexis.
— zubin koticha (@snarkyzk) November 14, 2023
In a statement, Kotcha said the decision was “really emotional” for them. “We thought we would be in crypto for the rest of our lives,” Kotcha explained. But unfortunately and unexpectedly, this is the end of the road. According to him, Opin will continue to be led by its head of research, Andrew Lyon, who will be promoted to CEO.
Kotcha hinted that the two execs will be working on a new project, saying, “Alexis and I — we've got something new for you soon. However, this new project will not be crypto-related as the two have “decided to leave crypto.”
Gauba shared Kotcha's post from her own account, commenting, “I always thought I'd be building in the crypt for the rest of my life, so it's sad to leave.”
Related: Opyn Removes Liquidity from Uniswap After $370K Stolen in DeFi Exploit
Opin is an options trading platform that runs on the Ethereum network. The development team is headquartered in San Francisco, California. On September 7, the CFTC announced that it was issuing a concurrent enforcement action against Opin and two other defi groups for allegedly operating unregistered exchanges. Opin was ordered to pay a $250,000 civil penalty and to “cease and desist” from violating US trade laws. Attempting to open the Opyn interface from a US IP address now produces a “Blocked” error page, and this redirection persists even when using multiple offshore VPN addresses.
The CFTC's action on the opin was controversial even within the commission, as Commissioner Summer Mersinger wrote a dissenting opinion saying the enforcement action should not have been taken.
