The team behind the popular Llama-themed blockchain data platform is at odds over a potential token launch.
In a tweet on Sunday, pseudonymous developer “0xngmi” said that members of the team would be forking DeFiLlama (DL) amid a “hostile takeover” and an ongoing attempt to launch a token.
https://twitter.com/0xngmi/status/1637425043482222599
nothing on defillama has been hacked, including the dex aggregator, you don't need to panic
only issue is that person controlling domain and twitter is pushing a defillama token while everybody else in defillama team doesn't want that
— 0xngmi (@0xngmi) March 19, 2023
The former DL employees have set up a new DeFi Total Value Locked aggregator called Llama.Fi and urged users to switch to the new platform instead. Aside from the branding, the Llama.Fi dashboard is nearly identical in layout and design to DeFiLlama. The new project’s Twitter account gained over 8,000 followers since it went live on Sunday afternoon.
However, some DL employees stated that 0xngmi’s claims of a hostile takeover were inaccurate.
“0xngmi and a few team members have gone rogue, they are actively looking to seize Defillama IP and community while inaccurately claiming the rightful owner to be doing a hostile takeover,” tweeted DL employee LlamaIntern.eth.
The origin of the internal conflict at DeFiLlama appears to have stemmed from a disagreement over how to monetize the platform. According to an account from Tendeeno, a DL contributor, one of the project’s co-founders “0xLlam4” decided that launching a token was the best solution to generate revenue.
“The DL team has always been against launching a token. Fundamentally, the token wouldn’t have value as defillama is not a protocol and tokens *can not* legally be a form of equity,” tweeted Tendeeno.
Indeed, a March 19 tweet from DeFiLlama’s Twitter account hinted at a potential airdrop. The tweet suggested that there might be “some nice surprises” in store for DeFi Llama contributors and was signed off with the parachute emoji – typically used to indicate token distributions to the community.
What's next for the aggregator?
Permits, Gnosis integration and trade history are in the pipeline with more much to come… and perhaps some nice surprises along the way for DeFiLlama contributors and users! 🪂
— DefiLlama.com (@DefiLlama) March 18, 2023
Tendeeno claimed that 0xLlam4 was ready to launch the token with or without the DL team’s approval and was already writing code to support it without telling anyone. Although both 0xngmi and 0xLlam4 are co-founders, 0xLlam4 has control over the DL Twitter account and the official domain.
this is all so tiring
Let’s get this straight
– ngmi has put almost the same amount of funding into DefiLlama as Llam4
– Llam4 never paid DL employee salaries, ngmi did (until grants started covering)
– ngmi legally owns 70% of DL
– Llam4 has done practically 0 work on DL pic.twitter.com/uEze40pgTz
— Tendeeno (@Tendeeno_) March 19, 2023
