Three Ghosts of Fantom Quit the Board and $S Drops Another 5% to Haunt Them 🪦

The $S token, the native utility asset of the Sonic blockchain, fell 5% to 0.031 on Friday after Sonic Labs, the organization formerly known as the Fantom Foundation, disclosed the resignation of three former executives from its board. The departures include Michael Kong, a former CEO of the Fantom Foundation and director at Sonic Labs; David Richardson, who served as executive chairman of Sonic Labs; and Andre Cronje, who previously held the role of chief technology officer.

In its announcement, Sonic Labs said the outgoing board members will continue to hold their $S positions but will no longer make business decisions for the organization. "These are the people who built what Sonic is today. They remain invested in Sonic's success and are handing off their responsibilities the right way, in full. From here, they will no longer make business decisions for the organization," the organization stated, naming Matt Visser as its new CEO and Kosta Kourkoumelis as chief operating officer.

The leadership change follows a prolonged decline in the $S token, which has fallen 97% since launching in January 2025 as part of a network upgrade that rebranded Fantom to Sonic. "We are not going to open with a victory lap. The token is down. Community sentiment is down. We see both clearly, we are not spinning it, and we are not asking anyone to pretend otherwise," Sonic Labs said. The organization added that the overhaul will include more transparent governance, clearer communication around project updates, and the establishment of a dedicated risk and compliance committee.

Sonic Labs operates the Sonic EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain, which launched as the successor to the Fantom Opera network and claims to process 10,000 transactions per second with subsecond finality. The Fantom Foundation was founded in 2018. Sonic Labs said its restructuring is intended to address community dissatisfaction that has grown alongside the token's drawdown.

The board reshuffle comes days after Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang announced her departure on Thursday, contributing to a year that has seen 19 layoffs and exits from the foundation.