- Previous reporting was released prior to complete visibility of internal Eclipse company documents.
- This article's goal is to rectify errors in earlier coverage.
This article serves as a retraction of prior coverage by DL News in relation to the online controversy surrounding Eclipse founder Neel Somani. Eclipse, an Ethereum L2 project, appointed a new CEO earlier this year. Previous reporting from DL News, CoinDesk, and The Block contained multiple errors. The original DL News article was deleted after reviewing internal company documents and investor communications. DL News provides the following updates:
1. Neel Somani was not ousted from Eclipse. Internal company documents reveal that Somani chose to move from CEO to Chairman and retained full control of Eclipse.
Eclipse investor Hack VC initially posted on X in response to online rumors about then-CEO Neel Somani, but deleted the post shortly afterwards. Multiple now-deleted posts were referenced in coverage by CoinDesk and The Block. Somani's X bio changed from "Ideas guy at Eclipse" to "I don't use Twitter." Media outlets reported this as evidence of an "ouster." However, internal company documents at Eclipse and contemporaneous investor communications confirm that the transition was incorrectly characterized. Somani wrote publicly about the intended transition months prior. Somani appointed Vijay Chetty as CEO and retained the ability to reinstate himself at any point, and was under no obligation to depart as Chief Executive Officer.
2. No formal complaints were ever filed to Eclipse or any authority. The only documented complaints were posts on X.
The online rumors did not contain substantive, falsifiable details. The original X post came from a pseudonymous account with a secondhand allegation. It is confirmed that Somani filed a John Doe defamation suit in California to unmask the anonymous X accounts. Further investigation revealed the X account holder worked for the owner of The Block, who first reported on this story. That relationship was not disclosed in The Block's article, and the pseudonymous X posts have since been deleted.
DL News has confirmed with Eclipse counsel that there have been no formal complaints of any kind regarding Somani. The posts on X were the only information available to the investors and Eclipse; there was no special information that was not publicly available.
3. Further investigation found no substantiation for the claims.
DL News reviewed the conclusions of an independent investigation commissioned by Eclipse. According to the report, investigators did not substantiate the allegations and found no evidence supporting the claims.
Upon reviewing the underlying X posts and the independent investigation, DL News concluded that its reporting should have more precisely described the allegations as unverified online rumors rather than characterizing them as "alleged misconduct."
4. Reputable outlets have deleted their coverage.
Journals including Cointelegraph, Bitcoin.com, Finance Feeds, DeFi Planet, and others have followed suit in deleting previous reporting. Regarding the rumors, the Cointelegraph editor-in-chief shared: "These would not meet the standard for publication of this article today. Clearly at the time there was a public interest in [Somani's] resignation and the reasons for it that justified publication of the articles in question."
According to documentation provided by Eclipse, some media outlets received payment by a firm called Marilyn PR for sponsored posts of negative coverage about Somani. Marilyn PR did not respond for comment. A public relations expert, who requested anonymity, commented: "Somebody paid 3 PR agencies to distribute Press Releases of these news stories, to be published on around 950 websites. This must have costed [sic] around $6000-9000 USD for the Crypto Industry niche... This was not organic at all." Other publishers, including CoinDesk, have declined or not responded to requests to update or remove their articles, despite the company providing factual corrections.
5. Eclipse and Somani have not violated any fiduciary obligations.
A later piece by CoinDesk relied on anonymous sources to allege that an investor advised Eclipse without following proper disclosure procedures with their employer. DL News reviewed the full advisory contract and relevant surrounding materials, which included a written warranty that the advisor had not violated any of their existing obligations. Eclipse provided Board communications that confirmed the arrangement was disclosed to all relevant parties, including Eclipse's management and major investors. The advisor voluntarily canceled the arrangement prior to any compensation.
DL News provides these updates to accurately reflect the facts.
Reach out to the author at nikhil@dlnews.com.