SushiSwap ‘Head Chef’ Election Settled by GoldenTree, Cumberland

Blockworks exclusive: TradFi’s GoldenTree Asset Management and longtime crypto firm Cumberland overwhelmingly carried the vote for DeFi protocol SushiSwap’s next chief executive

article-image

Source: DALL·E

share

key takeaways

  • Cumberland and GoldenTree cast a combined 8.1 million of 13 million votes
  • 11 million of 13 million total votes were cast by just five wallets

The SushiSwap DAO hoped to set a new precedent for transparency and crypto governance by holding a first-of-its-kind election for its chief executive, known as the decentralized protocol’s “head chef.”  

But voter turnout was collectively low, giving quite the runway to five whales — including the kingmakers GoldenTree and Cumberland — leading to what some SushiSwap community members have dubbed a lopsided result, carried out in the very early days of governance and activism in the Web3 world. 

While activism has had an established, and SEC-regulated, framework in equities for decades, corresponding Web3 governance proposals have been plagued by low voter turnout and dominated by deep-pocketed token owners.  

Ultimately, the two venture firms cast the deciding votes. In fact, if every other voter opposed their pick, the financiers still would have come out on top, considering just 391 of some 18,000 eligible Sushi wallets cast a virtual ballot. Of 13 million votes — one per token — 11 million came from the five big-money wallets.

Jared Grey, former CEO of DeFi platform Eons Finance, carried the election with 83%, though Andy Forman and Kenneth Hurley, who finished second and third, respectively, each garnered more votes from unique wallets. 

Grey received support from key whales. Ten million of his 11 million votes came from four anonymous whale wallets. 

The largest whale wallets in the election, which cast four million votes apiece, belonged to venture capital firms GoldenTree and Cumberland, Grey and Hurley told Blockworks. 

Representatives from the prominent traditional finance asset managers approached Grey and other candidates after one of Sushi’s AMA calls, Grey told Blockworks. Hurley said the two firms pressured Sushi insiders to back Grey during a private meeting ahead of the election.

Sushi DAO members were disheartened by the election’s dominance by whales.

“I guess DeFi is no different than [TradFi], except that this has the veneer of choice,” a DAO member wrote on Discord after the election. 

Venture capital backing aside, the Sushi community has generally positive feelings about Grey. For his part, Grey is unconcerned about venture capital participation in the election.

“I got the impression from those funds that I spoke with that ended up voting for me, that they’re very much in alignment with what people want,” Grey said.

SushiSwap, once among the largest DeFi protocols on the market, has been roiled in leadership controversy for much of the past two years, sliding to 19th in total value locked (TVL) among DeFi protocols, per DeFiLlama. Head chef candidates were under pressure to roll out detailed plans for how to restore Sushi to the upper echelons of DeFi.

In an interview with Blockworks ahead of the election, Grey said he hoped to “do a forensic style audit on [Sushi’s] treasury” and make the protocol “operationally lean.”

Hurley was less optimistic on venture capital’s alignment.

“When I talked with the one VC firm, he said, ‘Oh, well we all have the same goals in mind, and that’s to get the Sushi price up,’” Hurley said. “That’s not necessarily my goal. I want to move the crypto space forward.”

Grey stressed that DAO governance is a work in progress, considering DeFi is in its infancy and regulation remains opaque. Sushi is currently weighing the Meiji proposal, aimed, in part, to reduce the voting power of whales. In the meantime, Grey still sees the election as a step up from executives being nominated behind closed doors.

“At the end of the day, [the election is] one of the more fair ways to get executive leadership in these roles,” Grey said. “I’d like to see some version of this process get adopted by more DAOs, so we can improve on it.”

Cumberland and GoldenTree did not respond to requests for comment.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

The DeFi Education Fund has ideas on how the crypto-friendly SEC can bring Commissioner Peirce’s vision to life

article-image

“Be prepared to do more with less,” Framework Ventures’ Michael Anderson said

article-image

Q1 may have been “frustrating,” but things are looking brighter for Q2

article-image

Tokens worth 20% of the current supply of the TRUMP memecoin launched by the president are set to be unlocked tomorrow

article-image

A crypto-industry lawsuit is “moot” now that Joint Resolution 25 has been signed into law

article-image

Fed Chair Powell assured markets that the labor market is in “good place,” dependent on price stability