According to Cointelegraph, Zubin Koticha and Alexis Gauba, co-founders of the Opyn decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, have announced their departure from the project and their exit from the crypto industry. The announcement comes about two months after Opyn settled an enforcement action with the US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
In a statement posted on social media, Koticha expressed that the decision was highly emotional for both of them, as they had planned to be in the crypto industry for the rest of their lives. However, Opyn will continue under the leadership of Andrew Leone, the current head of research, who will be promoted to CEO. Koticha hinted that he and Gauba will be working on a new project unrelated to crypto.
Opyn is an options trading platform operating on the Ethereum network, with its development team based in San Francisco, California. On September 7, the CFTC announced that it was issuing and settling an enforcement action against Opyn and two other DeFi teams for allegedly operating an unregistered derivatives exchange. Opyn was ordered to pay a civil monetary penalty of $250,000 and cease and desist from violating US commodities trading laws. The enforcement action against Opyn was controversial, with CFTC commissioner Summer Mersinger dissenting, arguing that the action should not have been taken.