Secret Network validator shuts down nodes after leadership turmoil

cointelegraph.com:

A major validator for the privacy smart contract layer-1 blockchain Secret Network has announced that it will no longer provide nodes and support for the network.

On Jan. 29, major validator Smart Stake announced that it would be shutting down its Secret Network validator nodes on Feb. 21.

Smart Stake cited “complex/stressful validator operations, cost/effort of validator ops, and recent events,” as reasons for withdrawing its services.

Smart Stake is a staking and validator service provider that supports several networks including Crypto.com, Polygon, Cosmos, and until recently Secret Network.

PSA for @SecretNetwork delegates of Smart Stake:Smart Stake will be shutting down its Secret validator on 21st Feb. Please redelegate to another validator.Reasons: 1) Complex/stressful validator operations on $SCRT 2) Cost/effort of validator ops 3) recent events

The move comes amid revelations by Secret Labs founder, Guy Zyskind, regarding the Secret Foundation’s financial transparency.

On Jan. 28, Zyskind made public allegations that the Foundation and its founder and CEO, Tor Bair, “sold a substantial amount of USD worth of SCRT,” —  the native token for the Secret Network — in late 2021.

“Tor cashed out a significant portion of these proceeds,” he alleged.

Zyskind also mentioned a $4 million inflow for the Foundation in its Q4, 2021 report but no mention of the withdrawal.

Looking forward to resuming writing math proofs and bad code after all the @SecretNetwork drama

Bair however provided his version of events on the Secret governance forum on the same day. He stated that the withdrawals were part of his share of vested tokens.

He added that “this information is verifiable in our 2021 tax filings, which have been previously reviewed by