Jason Zhao, co-founder of the blockchain project Story, has just announced his departure from the full-time executive position to transition to a strategic advisor role. Instead of continuing to directly accompany Story, he will focus his passion on a new artificial intelligence project called Poseidon.
In his announcement, Zhao affirmed that Story was the most meaningful experience in the past three and a half years, during which the project raised over $130 million from top Venture Capital funds. However, the decision to leave immediately after Story completed the Token Generation Event (TGE) has caused much controversy in the community. Many investors and ecosystem members are questioning the core product and long-term value that Story truly brings.
This has led the community to criticize Zhao for abandoning the project abruptly without a clear reason. Moreover, a founder leaving the project right after raising massive Capital easily raises doubts about commitment and long-term development direction.
Alongside the criticisms, some opinions suggest that Zhao's decision could open up new opportunities. Poseidon - the AI project he is pursuing - is rumored to focus on artificial intelligence applications in decentralized data analysis and Web3 security. This is a field attracting special attention from technology investors, especially when AI and blockchain are seen as two parallel pillars shaping the next generation of the Internet.
Jason Zhao's story also recalls cases of some famous founders in the industry leaving old projects to pursue new technologies. Notably, many Ethereum developers previously pivoted to Layer 2 or Web3 AI projects, contributing to enriching the blockchain ecosystem. Although controversial, such moves are often interpreted as an inevitable part of the innovation cycle, where technology constantly changes and pioneers always want to stay ahead of trends.
In the coming time, the community will watch to see if Poseidon truly becomes a breakthrough AI project as expected, or will just be another "shadow" in the long list of technology projects that emerge and then fade away.
