TechFlow news — On February 28, according to Cointelegraph, Joey Krug, partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund, revealed during the ETHDenver conference that under former Chair Gary Gensler, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had forced founders of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms into settlement agreements requiring them to promise never to work in the cryptocurrency industry again.
Krug stated: "The government has approached founders of DeFi protocols in many cases, essentially telling them they must settle with us. In many instances, they were required to sign documents pledging never to participate in the crypto industry again. And due to non-disparagement clauses, these agreements cannot be publicly discussed." He also claimed regulators threatened the founders: "If you don't agree to these terms, you're going to jail."
Krug said he initially didn't believe such settlement agreements existed, until unnamed founders showed him the actual documents, which indeed contained clauses stating "never to engage in the crypto industry" and "not to discuss the matter externally."
