Andre Cronje, the founder of Sonic, wrote that pressure from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission led to his abrupt departure from the cryptocurrency industry in 2022.
In a new blog post, Cronje detailed a years-long struggle with the regulator that ultimately forced him to step away from public engagement with decentralized finance.
Cronje, best known for launching Yearn Finance in 2020, said he deliberately avoided raising funds or selling tokens to steer clear of regulatory scrutiny. However, in 2021, he received his first inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission requesting details about Yearn Finance’s investors and profit distribution.
Despite not being a United States citizen and never conducting business in the country, he complied with the request, gathering extensive information over several weeks.
The SEC continued its investigation, sending additional letters that Cronje described as increasingly aggressive. Over time, the focus shifted from an alleged securities violation to questioning whether Yearn Finance’s vaults qualified as investment vehicles. These inquiries, he said, consumed his time and resources, forcing him to halt development work.
“After two years of needing to deal with this every month, and endless sleepless nights and stress,” Cronje wrote that he chose to step away.
He emphasized that his departure was not due to dissatisfaction with DeFi but rather the toll of constant regulatory scrutiny.
Behind the scenes
Despite stepping back from the public eye, Cronje continued working on blockchain projects behind the scenes. He now says he is close to launching new DeFi initiatives.
He also noted that recent shifts in the SEC’s leadership made him feel comfortable sharing his experience, as previous investigators warned him against speaking out.
“Given the new direction of the SEC, I finally figured I can actually write about this, as previously I was strongly advised by those same investigators to not mention the investigation or it could escalate things,” Cronje wrote.
