Sonic Founder Andre Cronje Reveals Years of SEC Harassment

Sonic founder Andre Cronje wrote a gripping post on his previous departure from DeFi, revealing it was driven by continued harassment from the SEC.

Cronje claimed that he was threatened with further persecution if he went public with his struggle. Today, he perceives a different attitude from the SEC and feels comfortable sharing this harrowing tale.

Cronje Comes Clean on SEC Persecution

Andre Cronje, founder of Sonic (formerly Fantom), finally described in detail why he left the DeFi scene in 2022. His sudden exit caused a great deal of speculation, with intermittent rumors of his return spiking FTM’s price.

Today, however, Cronje released a blog post detailing an aggressive harassment campaign by the SEC.

Essentially, the SEC first targeted Cronje by sending him a series of threatening letters. They began with a series of simple questions: who is investing in your project, who is profiting, etc.

However, these requests kept escalating, even though Cronje is not a US citizen, does not conduct business there, and only visited the country once.

“The letters kept coming, every-time pivoting to a new angle of attack, it started investigating me from the angle of a raise and SEC violation. As I spent weeks and months of my life trying collect information and answer their questions, the drain on my time, energy, and resources became apparent. I was practically forced to completely stop development,” he said.

After two years of this SEC persecution, Cronje gave up. He claimed that this battle sapped all his energy to develop open-source projects for the public good, as he received little direct benefit and intense scrutiny.

Still, Cronje claimed he remained “addicted to the space,” and eventually began making subtle contributions and publicly supporting other projects.

“I simply could not be public, but kept working tirelessly all these years, and it is why I am finally close to releasing my new primitives,” Cronje wrote.

In 2025, he projects, everything is different. Since Gary Gensler resigned, the SEC has taken on a more crypto-friendly approach, convincing Cronje to come forward.

Previously, investigators warned him that they would escalate their persecution if he went public. In his estimation, the new SEC seems less inclined to carry out these actions.

This harrowing account serves as a reminder that regulatory hostility under Gensler was very real. Although some community members have downplayed incidents like Operation Choke Point 2.0, these events are part of crypto’s history.

The SEC worked hard to drive Andre Cronje out of the DeFi industry, but the space has fought hard to outlast and defeat these offensives.