Exodus Movement, a publicly traded cryptocurrency company, has initiated legal proceedings against W3C, the parent company of Baanx and Monovate, and its CEO, Garth Howat, in an effort to finalize the $175 million acquisition agreed upon in November last year. The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, aims to compel Howat to adhere to the obligations 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 to Howat personally, who subsequently claimed that repayment was not necessary, 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, and unilaterally dismissing and replacing key personnel despite being prohibited from doing so by the binding agreement.
Howat has yet to respond to requests for comment. Notably, W3C's subsidiaries, Baanx and Monovate, were involved in the Crypto Life digital asset cards business, which collaborated with prominent 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.'