Prominent former defi developer Andre Cronje calls for crypto regulation as he founds an investment banking company

Portrait of Andre Cronje, a man with a short beard, wearing a suitAndre Cronje (attribution)
Andre Cronje has graced the pages of W3IGG before, when he and his development partner Anton Nell unexpectedly announced they would be abandoning their 20+ defi projects, without giving any specific reason.

The reasoning may have just become clear, as Cronje published a blog post titled "The rise and fall of crypto culture" in which he wrote, "Crypto culture has strangled crypto ethos... I now more than ever see the need, or even necessity for regulation, not as a mechanism to prevent, but as a mechanism to protect. Its like a child trying to stick their finger into a electric outlet, you stop them, before they can learn why they shouldn't. One day they will understand, but not today." He remained optimistic about the prospects of crypto if regulation is introduced: "We will see the rise of a new blockchain economy, not one driven by greed, but instead driven by trust, not trustlessness."

Not everyone was impressed by his apparent change in tune. Twitter user 0xCana wrote, "andre cronje with the gigagrift walking away with over 1 billion dollars generated from crypto and then exits the space, rails against 'get rich quick mentalities' and advocates for strict regulations and then founds an investment banking company. incredible."