Another sexual harassment incident has emerged in the cryptocurrency circle, with a well-known project founder being accused by multiple individuals

Written by: shushu, BlockBeats

In recent months, several "top projects" in the crypto industry have made headlines for scandals. Recently, the founder of io.net, who had been in the spotlight, was accused of fraud, and now the leading EVM project Eclipse is also facing issues. On May 8, Jiwoo Jun, a member of the AI crypto search engine Kaito, tweeted on platform X, accusing Eclipse founder Neel Somani of sexual harassment, which has drawn significant attention from the industry.

Multiple Crypto Professionals Expose Somani's Misconduct

On April 27, Twitter user beachmojito (@wordsforgot) had already tweeted naming Somani for multiple instances of sexual harassment. "I thought this was open knowledge in the industry, but it turns out it is not. Ladies, please stay away from this 'founder'," accompanied by a screenshot of a message from Eclipse founder Neel Somani: "What are you doing tonight?"

Beachmojito later commented that after making the public call, they heard more stories and listed the following:

"Unconsented groping of multiple girls is sexual assault; putting your head on a girl's lap after she says no is sexual assault; inviting a girl to your room for a business meeting is sexual assault; feeding food to a girl you just met is sexual assault; texting every girl you just met is verbal harassment.

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We entered the cryptocurrency space to make money, yes, we can all be gamblers in this industry, trying to become the next millionaire. But being a founder does not mean you can exploit others, and being invested in by so-called top investors does not mean you are better than anyone else, so you can do anything to some unknown people and get away with it. This should not happen and must not happen. When you boast about changing this damn world, don't be so inhumane. Karma may be late, but it is real."

This post did not gain widespread traction a week ago, but this morning, Kaito member Jiwoo Jun (@jiwoo_jun) retweeted beachmojito's post saying, "When he grabbed my waist and pulled me closer, even when I said 'no' and pushed him away, I knew this would happen one day."

Jiwoo Jun's tweet also prompted many women in the crypto industry with similar experiences to speak out.

Crypto user Bella retweeted Jiwoo's post, writing, "He invited me and another girl to dinner and said, 'It's great to have dinner with a beauty queen and a model,' even though it was supposed to be a business meeting. Besides that, I've encountered many situations like hers and want to raise my voice too. Sexual harassment is very common in this industry. But that doesn't mean you can treat people this way."

LSP Capital's CMO @Mulan0x tweeted, "I met this person two years ago at a cryptocurrency event. Knowing he was building a new project after the Luna failure, I wanted to learn more. But when he kept texting me, asking if I wanted to grab a drink, or requesting I only go out late at night, I knew it was abnormal, so I stayed away from him. Thank you to every brave woman in this industry who dares to speak out!"

Crypto venture club Tangent co-founder Jason Choi retweeted Jiwoo's post, stating, "Last time I mentioned this person's suspicious business behavior on Twitter, I didn't name names. Out of respect for investors and acknowledging I didn't have the full story, I even deleted that tweet. But this industry needs to speak out about such things. If you took an angel check from him, I don't want to work with you."

From Intern to Star Crypto Founder in 4 Years

According to his LinkedIn page, Neel Somani majored in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2015 to 2019, graduating with a 4.0 GPA and earning dual degrees. After graduation, Somani immediately entered the crypto industry, working as a software engineering intern at the well-known privacy blockchain Oasis from January to May 2019.

He then left the crypto industry and joined Airbnb as a software engineer in August 2019, and a year later, he joined the well-known hedge fund Citadel as a quantitative researcher. In June 2022, Neel founded Eclipse, transforming his identity from intern to star founder in the crypto industry in just four years.

Notably, according to a deep report by The New York Times, Somani attended the Hacker House organized by Terra in Chicago in April 2022, an event sponsored by Terraform Labs and its investors aimed at incubating projects based on Mr. Kwon's technology. Within weeks, Somani secured $10 million in venture capital, with his project Terranova valued at $65 million.

A month later, Market Watch published a profile on Neel Somani, but by this time, the algorithmic stablecoin UST within the Terra ecosystem had experienced a severe de-pegging, and Luna had already collapsed. Reports indicated that Somani personally lost about $20,000 in this incident. However, this brief career phase is not mentioned on Neel Somani's personal LinkedIn page.

According to Market Watch, while at Citadel, Somani saw friends around him becoming "very successful" in the cryptocurrency field, which piqued his interest in crypto, believing that he could "possibly make more money" in crypto than at Citadel. After the Luna collapse, Somani immediately drafted his next crypto project, which is today's Eclipse.

On March 11, Eclipse Labs announced the completion of a $50 million Series A funding round, co-led by Placeholder and Hack VC, bringing its total fundraising to $65 million. This round of financing also attracted participation from investors such as Polychain Capital and Delphi Digital, as well as strategic investments from GSR and OKX Ventures, making Eclipse one of the most watched crypto projects.

Due to the increasing attention on Eclipse, just a month ago, Web3 female entrepreneurs were still leaving comments under Somani's LinkedIn updates seeking collaboration. As of now, Neel Somani has not responded to the accusations from multiple industry professionals on platform X, with his last tweet being a retweet about Blob.

Industry Influencers Support Victims

Kaito founder Yu Hu retweeted Jiwoo Jun's post, stating, "The entire Kaito family stands with you, admiring your courage to speak out; this must be heard."

Manta founder victorji.eth previously retweeted beachmojito's post, commenting, "Those who have sexually harassed in the cryptocurrency field have been completely removed from the industry, and I hope the same happens in this case. Even if venture capital and partners have vested interests, such dangerous signals should be stopped."

Well-known crypto KOL from Taiwan, Woody, retweeted Jiwoo Jun's post, stating, "I don't know if there will be more scandals exposed; this situation is definitely not an isolated case in the crypto circle. More than one woman has told me similar things happened, but they might not dare to speak out."

The issue of Neel Somani's sexual harassment continues to unfold.

Investor Meltem Demirors tweeted, "Today is the third time David Hoffman has bullied a female founder/early employee of a company he invested in within less than a year; I am fed up. This behavior is disgusting. Using any social capital or influence to bully women is insane."

She later updated her post, stating that during a phone call with David Hoffman to discuss details, "mainly going in circles. My understanding is that David's view of his behavior and words is completely different from that of the recipient."

However, David Hoffman has not formally responded, while his partner, Ryan Adams, another host of Bankless, expressed support for David in several tweets, stating, "This is a fairly public accusation, and its wording could be interpreted in the worst possible light. I have worked with David for four years and have never seen evidence of him bullying women or similar behavior. Do you have evidence to prove this? Or can you provide evidence for us to understand his actions and words? Given the extremely public nature of this call and its related impact, I think evidence is appropriate."