Ethereum layer-2 undertaking Eclipse is seeing a change in leadership after its former CEO confronted allegations of sexual misconduct.
Neel Somani, the undertaking’s founder and now former CEO, has stepped down from his position. Per a Might 16 announcement from Eclipse Labs, Somani will be succeeded by Vijay Chetty, “efficitive instantly.”
Eclipse’s announcement doesn’t point out the rationale behind Somani’s departure.
Chetty, presently main Eclipse, has been the undertaking’s progress officer till now. His previous experiences embody leadership roles at dYdX Buying and selling, Ripple Labs, and Uniswap Labs. He has additionally labored with funding supervisor BlackRock.
In the meantime, Somani has continued to disclaim all the claims. On Might 9, he introduced that he was “briefly decreasing” his “public face” following the allegations made towards him.
He asserted that he has not “sexually assaulted or harassed” anybody.
On the identical day, Eclipse introduced that it takes the allegations towards Somani “severely” and “believes in the significance of reality.”
The previous confronted speedy backlash from the cryptocurrency neighborhood, with some suggesting that the truth that he was stepping down proved that he was responsible.
A few of Eclipse’s backers and traders have additionally expressed their discontent on the matter. Dragonfly Capital managing companion Haseeb Qureshi revealed that his VC agency handed on a possibility to take a position in Ecliplse whereas conducting some background checks on the agency.
Reportedly, Dragonfly was made conscious of Somani’s historical past of sexual harassment claims.
“If we heard this doing solely minimal diligence, there’s no approach the precise traders didn’t additionally hear the identical,” Qureshi wrote in an X publish.
In the meantime, Hack VC, an investor in Eclipse, posted on X that it was “deeply troubled” in regards to the allegations made towards the previous Eclipse founder. The agency revealed that it urged Somani to resign and was proud of Somani’s choice.
“To be completely clear: the alleged habits in query is unacceptable, full cease.” the agency wrote.