Criticism has ramped up for blockchain network NEAR Protocol and its CEO, as worried users consider spending parts of its $500 million USD slush fund corrupt and irresponsible. On the last day of 2022, an article surfaced on Medium, under a pseudonym named after Dragon Ball Composer Kenji Yamamoto, that detailed NEAR Protocol’s and CEO Marieke Flament’s dealings throughout the year.
The CEO of NEAR, whose effective appointment began on the first day of 2022, has fumbled the highly ambitious goal of onboarding one billion users in 5 years, only a year into the plan.
Some of the company’s decisions under the new CEO have also been criticized, including a sailboat purchase and partnership with SailGP that allegedly cost $30 million back in March. NEAR was also accused of creating several million NEAR wallets and passing them off as organic users.
Another vast criticism involved the investment of $50 million into a venture fund, Caerus Ventures, started by SailGP’s former Vice President, Nathan Pillai, with whom NEAR had invested $30 million earlier.
Marieke Flament was also accused of corruption and investing $50 million with an inexperienced venture investor with whom NEAR had suspicious sponsorship dealings previously at SailGP.
Allegedly, CEO Marieke Flament has handled with a marked lack of transparency, shifting the goalpost as it suits her, and omitting important details. NEAR Foundation has spent approximately $80 million of its $500 million treasury, which it claims to have managed responsibly in an End-of-Year Update for 2022. With none of this money having been invested into increasing the value of NEAR, users call this responsible management into question.
In fact, the NEAR coin, NEAR Protocol’s native token, reached an all-time high of around $20 in January but has since fallen to approximately $1 by the end of 2022.
Responses to the article shared on Reddit, are cautious and pessimistic. Some Redditors faulted crypto investors for investing huge funds in fresh founders for unproven projects, as, unlike traditional corporations, crypto projects have little investor protection from the founders who have unlimited access to all funds. “They will always see this money as their own,” one Redditor said. Other users spoke of converting all assets held in altcoins and consolidating in BTC and ETH.
There are four years left in CEO Flament’s 5-year plan, but whether or not NEAR will survive will depend on what steps they take in 2023 to rebuild trust and stabilize the network.
