Terraform Labs Appoints New CEO While Co-Founder Remains in Jail – After Do Kwon’s resignation on March 31, 2023, Terraform Labs appointed a new CEO, Chris Amani, who previously held the position of COO. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Amani discussed his team’s vision for revitalizing the struggling blockchain project. He mentioned that the company’s focus is on creating applications that offer genuine utility.
It was revealed that Do Kwon had stepped down just before his arrest and is currently incarcerated. The collapse of the Terra blockchain ecosystem in May 2022 prompted many Terra Classic blockchain supporters to express their desire to re-establish USTC’s peg to the U.S. dollar. Additionally, attorneys are seeking to dismiss the SEC case against the company following the Ripple decision.
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During an interview, Chris Amani, the CEO of Terraform Labs, mentioned that a group of six unidentified developers has submitted a plan to revitalize the Terra Classic ecosystem. However, Amani did not specify if their focus would be on Terra Classic or Terra Phoenix. The LUNA 2.0 token and Phoenix blockchain have seen a significant decline in activity and value, with LUNA dropping 96.63% from its peak on May 28, 2022.
Currently, the cryptocurrency holds a market valuation of about $207 million, with approximately $6 million locked across nine decentralized finance platforms. Amani assured that more details about their plans would be disclosed in the coming months. He acknowledged that the task ahead is challenging and will require considerable time.
Before the stablecoin depegging incident that led to the downfall of the blockchain ecosystem, Terraform Labs had around 40 employees, and roughly 15 of them were part of the company at that time. Do Kwon, the former CEO, is facing legal issues and was sentenced to four months in prison in Montenegro for allegedly using counterfeit identification at an airport.
Both the United States and South Korea are seeking his extradition on various charges. The CEO news broke after Terraform Labs lawyers asked the court for certain information related to FTX, believing this data could aid their defense in a lawsuit initiated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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Additionally, defense attorneys sought dismissal of specific charges, following Ripple Labs’ recent partial victory against the SEC. “Ripple is thus fatal to the SEC’s arguments that UST, LUNA, wLUNA, MIR, and mAssets were sold as investment contracts,” the court filing details. “This conclusion requires dismissal of the SEC’s fraud claims as well as its registration claims.”