Analysis of the DefiLlama Team Split: Is Token Issuance Inevitable?

Author: @Tendeeno （Core Contributor of the LlamaX Project）

Compiled by: Moni (Translator for Odaily Planet Daily)

On March 19, 0x ngmi, the founder of the on-chain analytics platform DefiLlama, announced that his team had split over the issue of whether to issue a token, and has since launched a forked version of the website, Llama.Fi. So, what is the background of this event? Core contributor of the LlamaX project, @Tendeeno, provided a relatively fair summary of what happened with DeFiLlama on social media.

In fact, the crypto community should know that DefiLlama is not the only llama project; there are also llamanodes, llamanews, and llamafolio, all of which operate independently. However, in comparison, the success of DeFiLlama (DL) can be said to be 100 times that of any other project (of course, other projects also have very talented teams, and I believe they will surely achieve success). Currently, the value of DefiLlama accounts for more than 95% of the total value of all "LlamaCorp" projects.

DefiLlama was initiated by 0x LLam 4, with 0x ngmi helping to build it. Soon, 0x ngmi took over all the work of the project. It is not an exaggeration to say that 0x ngmi is responsible for at least 90% of DefiLlama's current success; he not only leads the DefiLlama team but is also a major shareholder of DefiLlama.

However, the current issue is that DefiLlama has not generated any profits to date, which is something the entire team is researching… But another co-founder (0x LLam 4) felt that waiting was not an option and proposed a solution that could quickly generate profits: launching the DL token.

However, the team led by 0x ngmi has consistently opposed issuing a token. They believe that fundamentally, tokens have no value because DefiLlama is not a protocol, and tokens cannot legally represent a form of equity. Moreover, once the token price drops, people's attention will not be on the DefiLlama platform but solely on the price numbers.

Co-founder of DefiLlama, 0x LLam 4, did not accept 0x ngmi's explanation and insisted on launching the token regardless of whether it received the approval of the DefiLlama team. In 0x ngmi's view, this behavior is undoubtedly a "hostile takeover" of DefiLlama… because he does not want the project's value and reputation to be tied to the token.

Although a token without the team's approval may not launch, what 0x ngmi did not expect was that the "DL token" had already been launched and code had been written to support it (0x LLam 4 did not inform anyone). 0x ngmi believes that if the token is issued, there will truly be no turning back, and it will forever tarnish DefiLlama's reputation, undermining everything they have worked hard to build over the years.

The real problem is that this co-founder has control over DefiLlama's official Twitter and domain name, which means they can announce the issuance of the token at any time. Essentially, the DefiLlama development team has been taken "hostage," so the DefiLlama team decided:

If the issuance of the DL token is inevitable, the only way is to fork DefiLlama under a new name and create a new Twitter and domain.

And that is why you see the DeFiLlama team announcing that they are forking the project to Llama.fi.

In the coming days, the crypto community may see different contributors and employees within llamacorp sparring back and forth over who is right and who is wrong. Frankly speaking, it is unfortunate for all parties involved to have come to this point. It should be noted that the DefiLlama team is still working hard to find a solution, and the best-case scenario is that this is a huge misunderstanding between the teams, and things can ultimately be resolved amicably.

Editor's Note: @Tendeeno has specifically clarified that he is just an unpaid community contributor, not part of any official team, and simply likes DefiLlama and hopes to see them succeed.