Publicly traded cryptocurrency company Exodus Movement (EXOD) is suing W3C, the parent company of crypto cards and payments specialists Baanx and Monovate, and its chief executive Garth Howat to complete its $175 million acquisition of W3C, agreed in November last year.
A lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court seeks to compel Howat to comply with its obligations under the November 24, 2025 stock purchase agreement.
Howat and the W3C accepted loans worth $80 million from Exodus when signing the deal, $10 million of which was given to Howat personally, who later said they did not need to repay those loans, according to the lawsuit.
“Defendants Garth Howat and W3C are engaged in a blatant, reckless, and improper campaign to evade closing a transaction for the sale of W3C to Exodus that they had promised to complete in a binding agreement,” the lawsuit states.
“They attempted to steal millions of dollars from one of their own subsidiaries. They falsely backdated documents filed with government authorities. They purported to summarily fire entire boards of directors, as well as the CEO and CFO of their main operating entity, and replace them with lackeys of their choosing, although they were prevented from doing so by the binding agreement,” he said.
Howat did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
W3C companies Baanx and Monovate were behind the Crypto Life digital asset card industry, working with companies like Mastercard and MetaMask.
JP Richardson, CEO and co-founder of Exodus commented: “We have a binding agreement with the W3C and we hope it will be fully honored. We are confident in the path forward and anticipate a speedy resolution.”
