SushiSwap CTO resigns citing internal structural chaos

“I am now going to take a one-month vacation with my wife and kids and go build my next project. Long live Sushi,” said Joseph Delong.

Late Wednesday, Joseph Delong, chief technology officer of SushiSwap, the thirteenth largest decentralized exchange, or DEX, by trading volume, tendered his immediate resignation from the role. Explaining his decision, Delong gave the following statement:

“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.”

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

Previously, Delong had voiced disappointment over the inability for SushiSwap to launch on Optimism, a layer two scaling solution for Ethereum (ETH). Delong also claimed to receive little support from centralized exchanges about hackers’ identities after the SushiSwap’s token launchpad experienced a $3M hack, saying it was the “hardest day of my life so far.”

But it appears that it wasn’t simply the technical setbacks of the project that played a role in Delong’s decision. In a series of follow-up tweets after the announcement, Delong posted screenshots of alleged harassment from SushiSwap users, to which he then cited “it’s the community that does it for me.”

“I highly recommend the installation of a C-suite from outside the DAO [decentralized autonomous organization] and give them the tools to effectively manage a team. Be wary of any self-proclaimed leaders arising from the current core team,” said Delong.