Exodus Movement, a publicly traded cryptocurrency company, has initiated a lawsuit against W3C, the parent company of cryptocurrency payment specialists Baanx and Monovate, and its CEO, Garth Howat, in an effort to finalize the $175 million acquisition agreed upon last November. The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, seeks to compel Howat to fulfill his obligations as outlined in the November 24, 2025 Stock Purchase Agreement. Upon signing the deal, Howat and W3C received $80 million in loans from Exodus, with $10 million allocated directly to Howat, who subsequently claimed the loans did not require repayment, as alleged in the lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses Howat and W3C of engaging in a deliberate and improper attempt to evade completing the transaction, citing actions such as the misappropriation of millions of dollars from a subsidiary, falsifying documents filed with government agencies, and improperly dismissing and replacing key personnel.
Howat has yet to respond to requests for comment. The W3C subsidiaries, Baanx and Monovate, were instrumental in the development of the Crypto Life digital asset cards business, which collaborated with major companies like Mastercard and MetaMask. Exodus CEO and Co-founder JP Richardson stated, 'We have a binding agreement in place with W3C and expect it to be fully honored. We are confident in our position and anticipate a swift resolution.'