What led to DefiLlama's 'hostile takeover'? Developer weighs in

TL;DR An employee at DefiLlama forked the platform following a disagreement. The crypto Twitter community has blamed the conflict on the project’s lack of revenue. 0xngmi, a pseudonymous DefiLlama developer, announced on 19 March that the team was forking the platform. Tendeeno, another contributor to the project, blamed the conflict on the project’s lack of revenue.

Over the weekend, an employee at DefiLlama forked the platform following a disagreement.

The crypto Twitter community has blamed the conflict on the project’s lack of revenue.

An employee at DefiLlama forked the decentralized finance analytics dashboard following a dispute within the platform. The conflict revolves around the company’s plans to launch a token.

0xngmi, a pseudonymous DefiLlama developer, announced on 19 March that the team was forking the platform.

The DefiLlama team is forking Defillama@Defillama is undergoing a hostile takeover There is an ongoing attempt to launch a token that does not represent us. We don't want to be associated with it Use https://t.co/G0h4uBo2mL and @llamadotfi instead! — 0xngmi (llamazip arc) (@0xngmi) March 19, 2023

DefiLlama was “undergoing a hostile takeover,” according to 0xngmi. The company’s founders launched the token without the support of its employees, the developer added. He asserted:

“The DefiLlama team who have built the site […] for the past three years have decided to fork Defillama and start fresh on llama.fi.”

As a result of this decision, 0xngmi launched the website llama.fi and Twitter account @llamadotfi with over 8,600 followers at the time of writing. Except for the deletion of a few tool links, the new website closely mirrors defillama.com.

Though 0xngmi was the first to assert that DefiLlama was being taken over in a hostile manner, a message posted on a project’s Telegram channel claimed that 0xngmi had “gone rogue” within an hour of the developer’s tweet. The message claimed that Oxngmi and a few others are trying to seize DefiLlama while accusing the owner of a takeover.

Is a lack of revenue behind the fork?

Tendeeno, a pseudonymous DefiLlama contributor, blamed the conflict on the project’s lack of revenue. The contributor opposed the idea of a token launch, claiming that it would be a blot on the project’s reputation. Apart from being against the wishes of an alleged majority of the team, Tendeeno stated that a token launch would impede how the project runs.

(4/12) The problem is: DL hasn't historically made revenue. This is something that was being worked on… but the other cofounder (llam4) decided they couldn't wait any longer. They decided that launching a DL token would be the solution. — Tendeeno (@Tendeeno_) March 19, 2023

Another crypto Twitter user Insomniac hoped that the team resolves the issues amicably, given that “DefiLlama is both a loved and well used product.”

8. I remember DefiLlama from 2021; when they used to have to almost beg for grants. I can understand the need for monetization, you need funds to keep operating and growing a project. It's the lifeblood that keeps companies going. Are they just getting by now? — Insomniac (@insomniac_ac) March 19, 2023

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