Terraform Labs appoints Chris Amani as CEO to replace Do Kwon

Terra and Luna creator Terraform Labs has appointed a new CEO in an effort to make a recovery, the Wall Street Journal reported on July 20.

Chris Amani, who has been with Terraform Labs since 2021, initially serving as COO and later CFO, has now been appointed as the company’s CEO. He succeeds the firm’s disgraced co-founder and former CEO Do Kwon in that role.

The TerraUSD stablecoin collapsed in May 2022 and certain South Korean branches of Terraform Labs were dissolved prior to that incident. However, the firm continues to operate in Singapore, and Amani expressed optimism that the Terra project could be revitalized.

He told the Wall Street Journal:

“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 stated that Terraform Labs plans to create applications that “that provide real utility,” adding that the firm will announce further details in the future. He said that the firm currently has about 40 employees and said that those members will continue Terraform Labs’ operations without Kwon’s leadership. The company reportedly does not plan to launch a new stablecoin to replace the failed TerraUSD stablecoin.

It is unclear how the pending recovery plan will differ from or build upon the Terra 2.0 blockchain and Luna Classic (LUNC) token, both of which are already in operation.

Amani acknowledges Kwon’s sentencing

Amani also acknowledged that the company’s former, CEO Do Kwon, faces various charges and is currently serving a prison sentence. He stated that it “makes sense for [Terra] to continue on without [Kwon]” during Kwon’s current situation.

Do Kwon faces charges of violations of capital-markets law in South Korea and criminal charges of fraud in the U.S., as well as a separate civil fraud suit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). All of those allegations are directly related to the collapse of his $40 billion crypto project, though he began to serve a four-month prison sentence in Montenegro for passport fraud beginning in June.

Kwon has resigned as CEO but retains a controlling share of 92% of the company’s stocks, according to court documents cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Amani did not comment on how broader issues are affecting the company. Specifically, he did not make any mention of the status of co-founder Daniel Shin or nine others indicted by South Korean prosecutors this spring, as reported in April.

However, he said that just 15 of the 40 or so individuals currently employed by Terraform Labs were members of the company prior to its May 2022 crisis.

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