- Sushi CTO Joseph Delong has quit and warned over the future of the project
- Sushi has been hit badly by the recent market crash and has missed a crucial upgrade
- Delong warned that the project could die if the issues weren’t resolved
Sushi CTO Joseph Delong has stepped down after weeks of allegations of infighting at the troubled project. Delong leaves a project that saw its core contributor quit in September, two months after a major upgrade date was missed and following a plummeting token price. With the date for the essential upgrade now unknown, it is unclear where this latest departure leaves the DeFi protocol.
In the interest of the Sushi Community I am resigning as CTO effective immediately. I very much enjoyed the things that we built together and will look back positively on this moment. pic.twitter.com/7pZsQuPgup
— Joseph Delong (@josephdelong) December 8, 2021
Sushi’s Troubled Start Echoes Again
Sushi famously had a troubled start to life when founder Chef Nomi sold the Sushi development fund in September last year for $14 million worth of ETH, crashing the price and seemingly killing the project. However, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried rescued the project and Nomi returned the 38,000 ETH he received for selling the development fund.
Sushi seemed to be back on course and developing nicely, but a crashing token price plus tales of infighting have led to a stagnation and two resignations in two months. Sushi core contributor 0xMaki gave up hands-on work with the project in September, saying that he wanted to “foster the next generation of teams building on top of Sushi”.
Delong Says Serious Changes Are Needed
At the time nothing seemed untoward, despite the initial date for Sushi’s Trident upgrade being missed. However, if 0xMaki’s resignation was a sign that things weren’t quite right then Delong’s resignation is confirmation of a real mess at Sushi towers. In a tweet thread announcing his decision, Delong opened the doors on the situation within the project:
I wish Sushi the best and am saddened that Sushi is so imperiled within and without. The chaos that is occurring now is unlikely to result in a resolution that will leave the DAO as much more of a shadow than it once was without a radical structural transformation.
Delong also warned that community members should, “Be wary of any self-proclaimed leaders arising from the current core team”, suggesting that serious changes are needed at Sushi if it is to succeed.
