SushiSwap founder Chef Nomi has announced the return of $14 million in ETH to the SushiSwap treasury and issued a public apology.
On September 5, the anonymous founder sold $8 million worth of SUSHI, leading to a panicked selloff that sent the price tumbling more than 50%.
After selling 19,430 ETH in SUSHI from the SushiSwap dev pool, the founder came out of the transaction $14 million richer while the SUSHI market went into a tailspin. This sparked angry accusations of exit scamming from SUSHI holders.
Writing on his Twitter account earlier today, Nomi apologized at length for his actions and appealed to the SUSHI community to keep the project alive.
To everyone. I fucked up. And I am sorry.
— Chef Nomi #SushiSwap (@NomiChef) September 11, 2020
Controversy, Doxxing, and Subsequent Apology
Following the initial blaze of anger surrounding the suspected exit scam, Nomi initially insisted that he had done nothing wrong and that he was still involved in the project.
I did the recent move because I care about the community. I'm taking IL for you. But all I received was blaming and FUDing.
Here's what happened. The devshare part of me. I converted them to $ETH. I stop caring about price and I will focus on the technicality of the migration.
— Chef Nomi #SushiSwap (@NomiChef) September 5, 2020
Before long, however, he was doxxed on social media, with his real identity revealed on Twitter and Reddit, including his full name, job history, and even his location.
— TzTok-Chad (@tztokchad) September 5, 2020
After days of uncertainty about what the next move would be, the SushiSwap founder decided to come clean on Sep. 11. In a lengthy apology, he blamed his actions on “greed” and his decisions “made under pressure.”
He also publicly apologized to Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao for “causing trouble” and posted evidence of the transaction returning the ETH to the treasury.
I have returned all the $14M worth of ETH back to the treasury. And I will let the community decide how much I deserve as the original creator of SushiSwap. In any currency (ETH/SUSHI/etc). With any lockup schedule you wish.https://t.co/QwFj5SeeuQ
— Chef Nomi #SushiSwap (@NomiChef) September 11, 2020
Closing off his apology, he appealed to SUSHI users to keep on engaging with the community-run project instead of allowing his actions to put them off.
I hope that SushiSwap continues to evolve. Don't let my mistake deter it from being a 100% community-run AMM. The success of SushiSwap will set a precedent for many more community-run projects.
— Chef Nomi #SushiSwap (@NomiChef) September 11, 2020
At press time, the reaction to Nomi’s apology was broadly positive across the cryptosphere. BeinCrypto will update the story as it develops.