Wonderland's demise is also sending shockwaves through the rest of the crypto ecosystem, not least because of the interconnected nature of DeFi protocols.
A DeFi protocol has announced it is shutting down after it emerged that a convict was serving as its treasury manager.
Wonderland was plunged into chaos after a Twitter user unmasked 0xSifu as Michael Patryn. He had previously pleaded guilty to charges of credit card fraud, burglary, grand larceny and computer fraud — spending 18 months in U.S. federal prison.
Wonderland's co-founder Daniele Sestagalli had previously explained that he knew of Patryn's past — but had believed in giving people second chances. Patryn was subsequently asked to step down from the treasury position after the project faced a storm of controversy from its community.
Last week, Sestagalli had said he wanted Wonderland to continue, but acknowledged that some people wanted the project to be "wound down and funds given back to token holders." As a result, he arranged for a community vote on its future direction.
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A Close Call
Even before voting closed on Sunday, Sestagalli had tweeted:
"Wonderland experiment is coming to an end. It is clear from the vote that the community is divided. The core and heart of Wonderland is still the community. If we cannot find agreement on whether to continue or not, it means that we failed."
Sestagalli added that he was determined to "find a new home" for those who still believe in his vision, and the Wonderland experiment as a whole.
Among all the chaos, 0xSifu's Twitter account has been relatively quiet — and limited to a select few retweets in recent days. One shared post read:
"The sad part was $TIME was one of the strongest communities."