The SushiSwap Team is Attempting to Seize Control of The Project's Treasury and Kill The DAO

A new governance proposal has been put forth by the SushiSwap team that, if passed, would effectively sideline the project's DAO and transfer control of the treasury to a new entity called Sushi Labs. The move has been decried by critics as a brazen attempt by the core team to seize power and kill the DAO.

The proposal, titled "Evolving Sushi - Burū no Shinka," lays out a plan to adopt a "Labs model" and restructure the current organization. It calls for empowering Sushi Labs with "exhaustive and sole operational responsibility for core product development." Crucially, the proposal would transfer the vast majority of SushiSwap's treasury assets, valued at millions of dollars in various cryptocurrencies, to Sushi Labs.

Opponents argue this amounts to the core team granting themselves unilateral control over the project's funds and future direction. Naïm Boubziz, a SushiSwap contributor, took to social media to sound the alarm, characterizing it as "THE real hostile take over."

"They've introduced a new snapshot, sidelining the DAO and seizing the entire treasury without consulting the community," Boubziz wrote. He accused SushiSwap's Head Chef, Jared, of a premeditated plan to "Kill the community, Kill the DAO, Get 100% of the treasury."

Signs of internal strife emerged last month when it came to light that SushiSwap's governance forum had been deleted. Subsequently, changes were made to restrict proposal creation capabilities solely to core team members. This coincided with the removal of snapshot votes that had challenged the team's management of the treasury.

The current proposal has reignited concerns about the centralization of power. By advocating for Sushi Labs to take over development and shifting treasury control away from the DAO, detractors believe it betrays the fundamental ethos of decentralized governance that underpins the project.

In the proposal's vision, Sushi's DAO model would transition to focus primarily on on-chain governance related to the treasury and token supply. The DAO would not participate in operational decisions involving Sushi Labs, including staffing. Jared's role as "Head Chef" would transition to advancing Sushi Labs exclusively.

Proponents argue this restructuring is necessary for Sushi to remain competitive, enabling faster development, attracting talent, and expanding product offerings through a "franchised DEX model" on multiple blockchains. The proposal requests a grant of 25 million Sushi tokens to Sushi Labs and stipulates that Labs will be the sole recipient of future airdrops.

Critics remain unconvinced by this rationale, interpreting it instead as a ploy for the core team to enrich themselves at the expense of the wider community. Some have called for Sushi's leadership to address the allegations directly and engage in dialogue with concerned stakeholders.

As the situation unfolds, it will likely have far-reaching implications not only for SushiSwap but for the broader DeFi ecosystem and the pressing questions it faces around governance and centralization of power.