Despite Terraform Labs appointing a new CEO, Do Kwon remains the chief shareholder of the firm.
As Terraform Lab grapples with internal challenges, most notably the incarceration of co-founder Do Kwon in Montenegro and looming threats of his extradition to either South Korea or the United States, the company has decided to appoint a new CEO.
It is worth noting that despite these changes, Kwon continues to be the chief stakeholder of Terra.
Did you know?
Want to get smarter & wealthier with crypto?
Subscribe - We publish new crypto explainer videos every week!
What is a Rug Pull in Crypto? (Meaning + Examples)
On July 19th, the Wall Street Journal shared a report revealing the appointment of Chris Amani, a US citizen, as the new torchbearer at Terraform Labs.
A seasoned member of Terra since 2021, Amani has previously worked as both the chief operating officer and the chief financial officer. Before joining Terra, he held the CEO position at Humanity, a provider of scheduling solutions.
His LinkedIn profile confirms that the man has been working as the CEO of Terraform Labs since April 2023.
In a conversation with the media, Amani unveiled that the company's roadmap does not include the launch of any stablecoins, choosing instead to concentrate efforts on enhancing other products. Amani acknowledged the challenging journey ahead, stating:
We have a vision for how we could salvage this, even though I think it's going to be hard and it's going to take a long time.
Amani also hoped that Kwon would successfully overcome his legal issues and emphasized that Terra's operations would persist undeterred in his absence.
Terra witnessed a significant setback in May 2022 that triggered a domino effect, destabilizing the entire crypto market. The de-pegging of the platform's stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST), from the US dollar was the catalyst that eventually led to investigations against Kwon and co-founder Daniel Shin. Both men were believed to have conducted unlawful transactions during this downturn.
The troubles for Kwon further escalated in March 2023 when he was arrested in Montenegro and was accused of using fraudulent travel documents. His arrest resulted in a four-month imprisonment.
However, Kwon's legal troubles didn't stop there. The now-former Terraform Labs CEO faces extradition to either South Korea or the US. It is noteworthy that an arrest warrant had been issued for Kwon by South Korean prosecutors in 2022, accusing him of breaching the country's capital markets laws.
