Andre Cronje Calls for Greater Crypto Regulation, or Does He?

Earlier this year Andre Cronje turned his back on the crypto community after announcing his intention to quit decentralized finance (DeFi), but now he may have returned to argue for tougher regulation.

On the other hand, Andre Cronje may not have returned and may not be calling for greater regulation after all, as the authorship of his latest post has been strongly disputed.

Crypto Regulation and the Return of Andre Cronje

A lengthy Medium article seemingly published by Andre Cronje on Tuesday is creating far more questions than answers. Cronje appears to assess where and how the market crypto market crumbled. He then seems to argue for tougher regulation.

Cronje, best known as the founder of Yearn Finance, has fallen deathly silent since he announced he was quitting DeFi in March.

The opinionated Medium post from his personal account, therefore, seemed to provide a Lazarus moment of sorts. It also seemed to suggest that Cronje was now following in the footsteps of Sam Bankman-Fried by calling for greater regulation.

In the 5,000+ word essay titled, “The Crypto Winter of 2022,” the author eviscerates beleaguered crypto projects including Terra (LUNA), Celsius, Voyager, and Three Arrows Capital. 

While readers might expect that a post from Andre Cronje’s account would be written by Cronje himself, the article instead concludes with the words “By Megan Dyamond,” suggesting that the entire piece was a long-winded bait-and-switch. Below the DeFi architect’s name is a link to the website of Dunsters, a legal firm operating out of Cape Town, South Africa.

How exactly could Megan Dyamond have made a post from Andre Cronje’s Medium?

The answer may lie in the fact that one of the directors of Dunsters is Henriette Cronje, believed to be the sister of Andre Cronje. 

Cronje and the legal firm clearly have ties, but the connection simply creates more questions than answers. At this stage, it is unclear whether Andre Cronje is working with the firm or not, or whether the opinions expressed in the article also reflect his personal views.

BeInCrypto has reached out to Megan Dyamond to ask if she can provide further clarity on the matter.

Can You Feel the Burn?

Choice quotes from “The Crypto Winter of 2022.”

🔥 The mild burn:

“Terra USD (UST) is a supposed stablecoin out of Terraform Labs.”

“… the crash of Terra was directly responsible for the crashes of many crypto-hedge funds and networks. These funds and networks were over-exposed to one ‘stablecoin’ (an algorithmic one at that)…”

🔥🔥 The severe burn:

“The reasons why Celsius could not satisfy investor withdrawals are still coming to light, but they appear to be a combination of over-leveraged loans (and poor reserves), poor decision-making by prominent actors, and potentially a degree of malfeasance by major crypto-asset holders and Celsius executives.”

🔥🔥🔥 The crispy charcoal burn:

“CEO Alex Mashinsky’s tweets leading up to Celsius’ crash were all deliberately misleading. This may, at the very least, amount to a breach of a fiduciary duty he holds towards Celsius.

There are also accounts of Mashinsky telling the public outright that Celsius had minimal exposure to UST – which it did not as it was one of the largest wallets influencing the de-pegging of UST.”