Andre Cronje is finally leaving the DeFi space, for good. (For those who don’t know what happens, here is a good summary) ​

Even if we all much value what Andre Cronje has done for the sector as a legendary DeFi Architect, the same issue keeps coming up: how can we improve accountability and transparency so that such a significant player in the industry wouldn’t abruptly leave?

See the price performances of Andre-contributed projects — those investors are definitely not happy:

It goes back to the point: key man risk and project governance.

Blockchain is supposed to have better governance than the traditional world, given that smart contracts are an enforcement mechanism with a cheaper cost than the traditional legal system — while you may take years to get what you deserve in the court, your justice is executed by smart contracts instantly. Yet, because institutional norms are still in their infancy and because smart contract creation experts and governance experts are not connected, building strong governance still comes at a great cost.

One straightforward illustration is SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens), which is the common method used by investors in early-stage token projects. Its genesis can be traced back to the Silicon Valley norm for seed to angel stage business investment known as SAFE (Simple Agreement on Future Equity). The protection you may receive as an investment in SAFT, however, is significantly less strong than what you could receive in SAFE. It’s all due to the fact that SAFT is still signed in black and white on paper rather than being programmed on-chain.

Why? Because nobody thinks it is worth hiring a smart contract auditor to ensure the integrity of the SAFT codes, not to mention the governance structure of the project or the DAO. But if you don’t set that up immediately now, it will keep adding up until the tower collapses.

How can the projects guarantee that everything runs smoothly even after Andre Cronje leaves? How can they win back the confidence of investors? How can they stop more key man from leaving? Is there a mechanism to maximise the cost of unprepared departure and minimise the impact of management changes?

We need a governance standard. We need some best practices. We need an easy-enough execution of that.

This is why we created ADAM.

ADAM Vault reduces keymen by providing projects with decentralized treasury tools and allows innovations of the governance model. Read more on adamvault.com or follow ADAM Vault on Twitter.

Andre Cronje, who?

Andre Cronje, a talented coder and DeFi architect who was born in Cape Town, South Africa, is credited with creating the DeFi universe.

What did André Cronje construct?

The most well-known works by Andre Cronje are Yearn Finance and Keep3r (V1). Other well-known DeFi projects in which he took part were Hegic, Pickle, Cover, PowerPool, Cream V2, Akropolish, Sushiswap, and others.

What wouldn’t Andre Cronje construct?

He made it obvious in various chats that he views creating one’s own oracle as “insance.” Despite the fact that he already likes using Compound and dYdX, he is not required to create his own lending platform.

Andre Cronje’s path to become a DeFi architect

Andre Cronje is a software architect with 20 years of development expertise, according to web sources. In 5 months, he finished his three-year Computer Science study. After that, he worked for Vodacom, one of South Africa’s biggest telecom firms. He then advanced to developing mobile and distributed systems. His entry into the DeFi world has also been facilitated by his prior experience in the loan and insurance FinTech sectors. His personal life and other information, however, are mainly kept private.

What distinguishes a DeFi architect from a DeFi developer?

DeFi architects are experts who will work on the platform’s overall design using blockchain technology and other consensus processes, frequently with some background in finance. While the DeFi developer will take the strategy and put it into action.

Can a DeFi developer or DeFi architect become wealthy?

Andre Cronje is thought to be worth between $600 million and $2 billion, based on online rumors. His main sources of wealth are his contributions to various projects and the development of platforms with high token values.

Try to contribute to already-existing DeFi projects if you don’t want to build a platform from scratch. DeFi developers and DeFi architects are currently in short supply on the market, but high demand has led to big payouts.

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