Movement Labs Removes Rushi Manche and Restructures as Move Industries

Movement Labs has removed co-founder Rushi Manche and restructured under a new name, Move Industries.

The company announced Manche’s termination on May 7, saying:

“Movement Labs has terminated Rushi Manche. We can confirm that Movement will continue under different leadership. More details on leadership changes and a revamped governance structure will be coming soon.”

The decision follows a high-profile investigation into suspicious market activity involving the firm’s MOVE token. At the center of the issue is a December 2024 token dump that caused MOVE’s price to crash.

In response, Movement Labs hired blockchain intelligence firm Groom Lake to investigate the incident and ended its relationship with the market maker. It also launched a $38 million token buyback initiative.

Manche, who denied involvement in the suspicious activity, claimed the project relied on poor advice from external partners. He has not yet publicly commented on his termination from the project.

Movement’s new leadership

Following the leadership shake-up, Movement Labs has restructured under the new name, Move Industries. The rebrand aims to restore credibility and refocus the project on its original mission.

According to a May 7 announcement, founding member Torab Torabi has taken over as CEO, while Will Gaines, formerly in charge of marketing, has been named president.

Move Industries outlined a leadership philosophy shift prioritizing community engagement and technological development. The team aims to rebuild trust by returning to crypto’s foundational principles and concentrating on delivering real value over hype.

The team stated:

“We’ll return to crypto’s radical roots. We want to build better opportunities for people.”

MOVE token plunges

The drama surrounding the project has been hitting the network’s native token, MOVE, hard.

According to CryptoSlate’s data, the token dropped nearly 13% in the past 24 hours to around $0.15 as of press time. This marks a 35% decline over the past week and a staggering 50% plunge in the last month.

MOVE has lost approximately 87% of its value since reaching an all-time high of $1.21 in December 2024.

Due to this volatility, Binance has added a monitoring tag to MOVE. The exchange warned that tokens with this tag carry significantly higher risks and price swings.

According to the exchange:

“These tokens are closely monitored, with regular reviews conducted. Keep in mind that tokens with the Monitoring Tag are at risk of no longer meeting our listing criteria and being delisted from the platform.”