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SushiSwap

avoid.net/sushiswap→52/100·82% conf.
[✓ FACT-CHECKED]· reviewed 2 times · last review 14 Jun 2026[src:defillama]

Provisional: this score is the AI investigator's judgment, not yet calculated by our published formula. Treat it as indicative. How scoring works →

anchored·2pYuvE…C4zg
last updated 2026-08-29

Summary

SushiSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) and DeFi protocol launched in August 2020 as a fork of Uniswap, offering an automated market maker (AMM), governance token (SUSHI), and multi-chain liquidity pools. The protocol has endured a series of serious controversies spanning its entire history: a founding exit-scam attempt by anonymous creator Chef Nomi, early operational control handed to convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, an SEC subpoena issued to the protocol and its CEO in 2023, a $3.3 million smart contract exploit the same year, allegations that North Korean IT workers were embedded in its developer team, disputed DAO treasury centralization in 2024, and a governance process in late 2025 where a single wallet controlled 99.9% of a vote. TVL has declined approximately 98.7% from its 2022 peak of over $8 billion to roughly $100 million as of late 2025.

Connected Entities

15 entities · 60 linked investigations
Organizations
□QuadrigaCX0□Polygon54□Ethereum□FTX□Fantom (Sonic Labs)□THORChain□Arbitrum□Polygon zkEVM□Sam Bankman-Fried□ZachXBT□Optimism
Protocols
⌂SushiSwap⌂Uniswap⌂Yearn Finance
Tokens
♦Litecoin
Relationships
  • Yearn Finance→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
  • Optimism→mentioned with→Arbitrum(65%)
  • ZachXBT→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
  • Optimism→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
  • Litecoin→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
  • THORChain→mentioned with→Litecoin(60%)
  • THORChain→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
  • THORChain→mentioned with→Arbitrum(60%)
  • SushiSwap→mentioned with→Arbitrum(65%)
  • SushiSwap→mentioned with→Ethereum(60%)
  • + 24 more
Have evidence about SushiSwap?

Timeline(18 events)

August 2020

SushiSwap launched by anonymous developer 'Chef Nomi' as a fork of Uniswap, introducing SUSHI governance token and yield farming incentives.

5 September 2020

Chef Nomi withdraws approximately $13–14 million from the developer fund wallet, converting SUSHI and LP tokens to ETH; SUSHI price collapses ~90%. Community labels it a rug pull or exit scam.

6 September 2020

Chef Nomi transfers multi-sig control of SushiSwap to FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to restore community confidence.

11 September 2020

Chef Nomi returns approximately 38,000 ETH ($14 million) to the developer fund, publicly apologizes, and withdraws from governance.

11 September 2020

Sam Bankman-Fried oversees SushiSwap's migration from Uniswap and transfers control to a broad multi-sig arrangement.

March 2021

SUSHI reaches all-time high of approximately $23.38. SushiSwap TVL exceeds $5 billion.

2022

SushiSwap TVL peaks at over $8 billion before declining sharply during the broader crypto market downturn.

11 October 2022

Jared Grey appointed Head Chef. Within days, Twitter user YannickCrypto publishes allegations of past scams and other misconduct; Grey denies all charges.

December 2022

Grey discloses SushiSwap treasury has less than 18 months of runway remaining, with alleged $30 million loss attributed to prior administration mismanagement.

21 March 2023

SEC serves SushiSwap and Jared Grey with a subpoena. SushiSwap proposes $3 million legal defense fund from the DAO treasury.

9 April 2023

RouterProcessor2 smart contract exploit drains approximately $3.3 million across 14 chains. Largest victim is wallet 0xSifu (Michael Patryn, QuadrigaCX co-founder). White hats recover over 1,000 ETH.

12 April 2023

SushiSwap announces reimbursement plan via Merkle Claim contract for exploit victims.

April 2024

SushiSwap proposes transitioning to 'Labs model,' shifting approximately $42.5 million in treasury assets from DAO control to new Sushi Labs entity.

10 April 2024

Sushi Labs treasury proposal passes with approximately 62% of the vote amid allegations by community members that the team used protocol wallets and borrowed funds to boost voting power.

11 June 2024

Sushi Labs formally established as the autonomous administrative entity governing SushiSwap operations.

December 2025

Jared Grey steps down as Head Chef and transitions to advisory role. Synthesis invests $3.3 million; Alex McCurry becomes Managing Director.

14 December 2025

Governance vote increases SUSHI annual emission rate from 1.5% to up to 5%; on-chain analysis shows a single wallet controlled approximately 99.9% of voting power.

12 March 2026

A trader routes $50.4 million USDT through CoW Protocol into a SushiSwap pool with only $73,000 liquidity, losing approximately $50 million to slippage and MEV exploitation.

Provenance & Audit Trail

Decision Log

  • #5review approve+20Recorded on Solana ✓6/14/2026, 11:15:59 PM
    slot 426514494 · hash Ho5f8ZfwnKVLWVdWziWnogE7y21fToW3g8V3Cy3MD2FR
  • #4reviewRecorded on Solana ✓6/14/2026, 11:15:59 PM
    slot 426514491 · hash 2oFcvXnRVUuJR1zJj9cXD5kPCqXDFMEtEVycDZNb923G
  • #3review approveRecorded on Solana ✓6/13/2026, 9:05:07 PM
    slot 426276972 · hash D8JGMitKYCoXCzKvr9LQgnMxSKv9pSZuXuJBqxKY7BTh
  • #2reviewRecorded on Solana ✓6/13/2026, 9:05:07 PM
    slot 426276968 · hash FRAWZEdca3DMPD8VRcZuwBUSfihQ7EUHCdXWABFvvoNg
  • #1publishRecorded on Solana ✓5/27/2026, 8:30:13 PM
    slot 422575043 · hash EwfZrz8THf6Qrxydjbg5Kjva58dM89ku1SVpznVwQv5t

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (5 decisions). 41 of 47 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.

model: claude-sonnet-4-6

generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:42 AM

last updated: 8/29/2026, 1:33:20 AM

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