While the co-founder of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, is facing possible extradition to South Korea or the United States in his jail cell in Montenegro, the company appointed the new chief operating officer (CEO). Kwon, however, still remains the principal shareholder of Terra.
According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. citizen Chris Amani has now filled the vacant position of Terra’s CEO. Amani has worked for Terra since 2021 — he was serving as a chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Before that, he was a CEO at the scheduling solution provider Humanity. According to Amani’s Linkedin, he’s been operating as Terra’s CEO since April 2023.
Related: Legal proceedings start for Terraform Labs co-founder in South Korea
Amani told journalists that the company is not planning to launch any stablecoins and will focus on other products:
“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”.The executive also expressed his hope that Do Kwon could clear himself of all charges, while for now, Terra will continue to operate without him.
In May 2022, Terra's collapse set off a chain reaction, crashing the crypto market. The platform's stablecoin, USTC, lost its peg to the U.S. dollar, leading to investigations into Kwon's and co-founder Daniel Shin's suspected involvement in illicit transactions during the crash.
In March 2023, Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro for allegedly using forged travel documents. He received a four-month prison sentence, but he also faces the possibility of extradition to either the United States or South Korea once his sentence is over. South Korean prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Kwon a year ago, accusing him of violating the country's capital markets laws.
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