Movement Labs Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Amid Ongoing Token Scandal

Movement Labs, the developer behind the Movement blockchain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This marks another setback for the crypto project that has navigated governance disputes and a token market-making controversy over the past year.

The filing follows months of turmoil after the December launch of the $MOVE token. An April 2025 CoinDesk investigation found that Movement was examining whether it had been misled into signing a market-making agreement that handed a single counterparty unusual influence over $MOVE's circulating supply.

Internal documents showed the arrangement allowed 66 million $MOVE tokens to be sold into the market one day after the token debuted, contributing to a sharp decline in price. Movement executives later questioned whether the foundation believed Rentech was affiliated with Web3Port when it was not.

Movement Labs and co-founder Rushi Manche separated in May 2025. The company attempted to chart a new course by pivoting away from competing with other Ethereum scaling networks to focus on cross-border payments, remittances, and stablecoin settlement.