Sexual Misconduct Allegations Lead Founder of Ethereum Layer-2 Chain ‘Eclipse’ to Step Back

Neel
Somani,
the
founder
and
CEO
of
Ethereum
scaling
company
Eclipse,
said
on
Thursday
that
he
would
be
stepping
back
from
his
role
as
a
“public
face”
for
the
company
in
response
to
a
recent
slate
of
sexual
misconduct
allegations.

“Serious
allegations
have
been
made
against
me
on
Twitter
in
the
last
week,”
Somani
said
in
a

post
on
X
(formerly
Twitter).
“These
allegations
are
false,
but
serious
allegations
about
sexual
misconduct
warrant
a
serious
and
thoughtful
response.”

“I’ll
be
temporarily
reducing
my
role
as
a
public
face
for
Eclipse,”
he
wrote.
“The
senior
leaders
at
Eclipse
are
well
equipped
to
take
on
these
responsibilities
and
this
will
allow
these
conversations
to
unfold
and
the
truth
to
emerge
about
these
allegations.”

Somani
did
not
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.

Eclipse
posted
a

separate
statement
to
its
official
X
account,
saying
it
“remains
committed
to
maintaining
the
highest
personal
and
professional
standards,
including
gender
equality
and
fair
treatment.”

“The
team
takes
allegations
against
our
CEO,
Neel
Somani,
seriously
and
believes
in
the
importance
of
truth,”
the
company
wrote.

Eclipse
is
a
layer-2
blockchain
scaling
project
on
Ethereum.
In
March,

the
firm
disclosed
that
it
raised
$50
million
in
a
Series
A
funding
round
co-led
by
Placeholder
and
Hack
VC,
bringing
the
total
amount
raised
by
the
company
to
$65
million.