Movement Labs Terminates Co-Founder Rushi Manche Following Chaotic Week

Ethereum layer-2 startup Movement Labs has cut ties with co-founder Rushi Manche, capping a turbulent week of governance scandals, market maker fallout, and mounting community pressure.

“Movement Labs has terminated Rushi Manche. Movement will continue under different leadership,” the team posted early Wednesday on X. 

Within minutes, the platform announced the launch of Move Industries, a new company rising from the wreckage of the project.

The new team described the shift as a return to “crypto’s radical roots,” pledging improved transparency, stronger internal governance, and a builder-first approach. 

Manche declined to comment when contacted by Decrypt.

Torab Torabi, who joined Movement Labs in September 2023 as Director of Business Development, will serve as CEO of Move Industries, alongside longtime marketing head Will Gaines as President and CMO.

Manche’s termination follows his suspension last Thursday, when Movement Labs said the decision was made “in light of ongoing events,” involving market maker Rentech, which dumped 66 million MOVE tokens, 5% of supply, within 24 hours of the token’s launch last December.

Rentech, allegedly posing as an affiliate of Chinese trading firm Web3Port, executed the dump, despite legal concerns flagged by Movement’s own counsel.

Manche, who allegedly forwarded the controversial Rentech deal despite legal red flags, remained active in both Movement Labs and its nonprofit foundation, violating governance separation principles. 

As fallout deepened, Binance froze $38 million in proceeds and offboarded the offending market maker, accusing it of flooding the platform with sell orders and little buy support. 

Coinbase, citing a routine asset review, said it would suspend MOVE trading on May 15. MOVE plunged to $0.1579 following the announcement, its lowest ever.

At the moment, the MOVE token is trading at approximately $0.16, falling over 8.5% in the last 24 hours and a 34% decline over the past week, as per CoinGecko data.

Amid the chaos, Move Industries has insisted that “all previously announced initiatives are moving forward,” including MoveDrop, Parthenon, DeFi Spring, and “major updates to the network.” 

A community AMA is scheduled for Friday to walk users through the changes, as per the platform’s official Telegram channel.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair