Exodus Movement, a publicly traded cryptocurrency company, has initiated legal proceedings against W3C, the parent company of cryptocurrency payment specialists Baanx and Monovate, and its CEO, Garth Howat, in an effort to finalize its $175 million acquisition of W3C, which was agreed upon in November of the previous year. A lawsuit filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery aims to compel Howat to fulfill his obligations under the November 24, 2025 Stock Purchase Agreement. Upon signing the deal, Howat and W3C received $80 million in loans from Exodus, with Howat personally receiving $10 million, which he later claimed did not need to be repaid, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that 'defendants Garth Howat and W3C are engaged in a blatant, reckless, and improper campaign to escape closing a transaction for the sale of W3C to Exodus that they had promised to complete in a binding agreement.' It further states that they have 'attempted to pilfer millions of dollars from one of their own subsidiaries, falsely backdated documents filed with government authorities, and purported to summarily dismiss entire boards of directors, as well as the CEO and CFO of their key operating entity, and replace them with lackeys of their choosing, despite being precluded from doing so by the binding agreement.' Howat has not responded to requests for comment. W3C's subsidiaries, Baanx and Monovate, were behind the Crypto Life digital asset cards business, which collaborated with prominent companies such as Mastercard and MetaMask.
JP Richardson, CEO and Co-founder of Exodus, stated, 'We have a binding agreement with W3C and expect it to be fully honored. We’re confident in the path forward and anticipate a swift resolution.'