Zubin Koticha and Alexis Gauba, two founders of the Opyn decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, are stepping down from the project and “leaving crypto,” according to a statement from Koticha posted to social media on Nov. 14. The decision comes after Opyn settled an enforcement action against it from the United States Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) two months ago.
In his statement, Koticha emotionally expressed, “We thought we were going to be in crypto for the rest of our lives. But unfortunately and unexpectedly, this is the end of the road.” Opyn will continue under the leadership of its head of research, Andrew Leone, who is being promoted to CEO.
Koticha hinted that the two executives will be working on a new project, stating, “As for me and Alexis – we got something new for y’all very soon.” However, this new project will not be related to crypto, as the two “have made the decision that we are leaving crypto.”
Opyn is an options trading platform that operates on the Ethereum network, with its development team based in San Francisco, California. The CFTC announced on Sept. 7 that it was simultaneously issuing and settling an enforcement action against Opyn and two other DeFi teams for allegedly operating an unregistered derivatives exchange. Opyn was ordered to pay a civil monetary penalty of $250,000 and “cease and desist” from violating U.S. commodities trading laws. Attempting to open the Opyn interface from a U.S. IP address now produces a “blocked” error page, and this redirection persists even when using many offshore VPN addresses.
The CFTC action against Opyn sparked controversy, as Commissioner Summer Mersinger wrote a dissenting opinion claiming that the enforcement action should not have been taken.
Opyn “blocked” page. Source: Opyn.
For more information please visit Cointelegraph.
❗Follow us on Twitter to get all the latest crypto news as soon as they're out! 🚀
About the author - J-S Tremblay
I've been involved in the cryptocurrency world since 2016 and trading since 2019. I started Moon and Lambo in 2021. I'm passionate about crypto and love to share my knowledge. I hate bankers and I hope that cryptocurrency will change the financial world for the better. View full profile...
View J-S Tremblay website
