Ahmad Shadid stepped down as CEO of the Solana-based DePIN Protocol io.internet on Sunday. The choice got here two days earlier than the launch of io.internet’s token, IO. Because of this, the crypto group was skeptical of the choice and the previous CEO’s previous.
Solana-Based mostly DePIN Venture Modifications Administration
Two days earlier than the IO token launch, Ahmad Shadid introduced he was stepping down “efficient instantly” as CEO of io.internet. The Solana-based protocol is a decentralized bodily infrastructure community (DePIN) designed to “present limitless computing energy to machine studying functions.”
Io.internet aggregates GPUs from totally different storage suppliers to supply cost-efficient GPU computing energy to AI and ML groups. Moreover, it permits customers to earn cash renting out their spare GPU capability.
In response to Shadid’s submit, the choice was taken after cautious consideration and is “in the most effective curiosity of the group and the challenge.”
Furthermore, he claimed he would present gratitude to the ‘IO Nation’ by donating 1 million IO tokens from his allocation to io.internet’s GPU basis “to assist develop the ecosystem.”
Tory Inexperienced, former COO and co-founder of the challenge was named the brand new io.internet’s CEO. Inexperienced assured customers that the challenge will proceed working in direction of reaching its objective of turning into the “largest AI compute community and convey AI to the world.” He acknowledged:
AI compute spend is on monitor to be on the order of $100B in 2024, and but there stay vital and structural gaps in entry to present assets. io.internet’s imaginative and prescient is a world the place AI merchandise of the approaching decade are constructed on open, permissionless platforms which might be accessible to all. We’re excited to proceed constructing the web of GPUs.
Crypto Group Uncertain Of Io.internet’s Future
Shadid claimed that his resolution was unrelated to the allegations in opposition to him. The previous CEO defined he needed the Solana-based challenge to function with out turbulence.
I wish to emphasize that I’m stepping down as CEO to permit io.internet to maneuver ahead with out distraction and to concentrate on its development and success.
Nonetheless, the group had blended emotions in direction of the information. Some customers agreed that the resignation was the most effective step for io.internet’s future, whereas others discovered the timing suspicious.
A number of group members expressed skepticism, stating {that a} dump after launch was potential. Shadid addressed this concern, explaining that he has a “4 years lockup + vesting.” He additionally detailed that no investor, advisor, or staff member can dump the group as they received’t get their month-to-month vesting tokens earlier than June 2025.
Nonetheless, io.internet’s co-founder didn’t tackle the opposite claims. Some customers introduced ahead the scamming allegations of Shadid’s previous and urged traders to keep away from the challenge.
One X person accused Shadid of being a “well-known scammer within the Arabic crypto group” who has “been a serial scammer since 2018.” The person cited a number of social media posts and movies compiling the alleged scams carried out by Shadid.
Moreover, Martin Shkreli has accused the Solana-based challenge of deceptive the group and manipulating the knowledge they supplied. To some traders, Shadid’s resignation “mainly legitimized” Shkreli’s claims and will counsel a bearish future for io.internet.
Nonetheless, many anticipate to see how the state of affairs develops after the launch. Io.internet’s IO token is ready to launch on Binance’s Launchpool on June 11. In response to the crypto trade’s announcement, 95 million IO tokens might be launched at launch, and buying and selling will begin at midday UTC with the IO/BTC, IO/BNB, IO/FDUSD, and IO/TRY buying and selling pairs.
