SushiSwap Sparks Controversy for Self-Granting Votes to Pass Proposal

SushiSwap Sparks Controversy for Self-Granting Votes to Pass Proposal

The proposal to transfer all assets from the DAO to Sushi Labs unexpectedly passed with 62.5% votes in favor, raising suspicions of vote manipulation by the project team.

As Coin68 reported last week, the proposal to "dissolve" the DAO and transfer all control to Sushi Labs was initially met with strong opposition. When the proposal was first announced, 72% of the votes were against it, with critics labeling the proposal as "authoritarian."

However, as the voting period drew to a close, the situation reversed, and the proposal was approved with 62.5% of the votes. The project will now proceed with another round of voting to implement the proposal.

How SushiSwap Manipulated the Vote

Upon closer examination of the voting results, contributor Naïm Boubziz, who has previously criticized the core team's "underhanded" tactics, claimed that SushiSwap added liquidity (voting power) to new wallets just before the snapshot, voted Yes, and then withdrew the liquidity shortly after.

"How could multiple addresses be funded 10 minutes before the proposal and withdrawn minutes after? Does that seem normal to you?" Boubziz told Decrypt.
The simultaneous appearance of both the initial (Signal) and implementation proposals was also considered unusual. Typically, the initial proposal must pass before proceeding to the implementation proposal. This indicated the project's confidence in the initial proposal's approval.

At the time of writing, the implementation proposal to transfer control had garnered 98% votes in favor. This proposal's voting period ends on April 17, but the outcome seems predictable.

Authoritarian Actions by SushiSwap

Boubziz also highlighted several "authoritarian" actions by the SushiSwap team, such as:

• Deleting the project's forum, preventing community discussions;
• Changing DAO rules to allow only the development team to create new proposals;
• Blocking the community from purchasing additional voting rights.

"By eliminating the ability to create new proposals, they can now reward themselves with any salary and bonuses they desire. Even if SushiSwap stagnates, they will continue to comfortably hold their positions without any challenge," Boubziz stated.
Previously, SushiSwap CEO Jared Gray told The Block that the proposal was part of restructuring SushiSwap's governance model for the benefit of both users and the DAO.

Following the proposal's approval, the SUSHI token dropped approximately 10%, currently trading at $1.5.

SUSHI/USDT Daily Chart captured at 12:30 AM on April 11, 2024, on Binance