The Movement Labs, developer of the layer 2 blockchain Movement, filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The decision comes after months of financial difficulties and the crisis caused by the launch of the token MOVE, which triggered billion-dollar losses in market value and compromised the project's sustainability.
Documents submitted to the court show that the company has fewer than 1,000 creditors. In addition, it estimates between US$ 100 mil e US$ 500 mil em ativos, while its liabilities exceed US$ 1 milhão.
The largest unsecured creditor is former co-founder Ruhikesh Manche, who is owed more than US$ 1,6 milhão. The Delaware Division of Revenue and Anchorage Digital also appear on the list of creditors. The first hearing related to the case is scheduled for August 20.
The origin of the crisis dates back to December 2024, when the MOVE token was launched on the market. Shortly after its debut on Binance, approximately US$ 66 million in tokens were sold as part of a market maker agreement signed with Rentech.
The sudden increase in supply put pressure on the cryptocurrency's price and wiped out billions of dollars in market value in just a few days. Later, Binance barred Rentech from operating, alleging that the company sold virtually its entire position just one day after the listing, executing a minimal volume of buy orders.
According to the exchange, the operation resulted in about US$ 38 million in profit for the market maker before its removal from the platform, on March 18.
In response to the episode, Movement Labs launched a buyback program for the MOVE token with the aim of recovering part of the ecosystem's liquidity. At the same time, it hired Groom Lake to review the agreement signed with Rentech.
The investigation identified connections between Rentech and the Chinese brokerage Web3Port, a discovery that contributed to the dismissal of Ruhikesh Manche amid the scandal.
Despite the current difficulties, the company had raised approximately US$ 141,4 million in different investment rounds, including a Series A led by Polychain Capital. Even so, the network's activity indicators show a reality quite different from the expectation created by the funding.
Data from DeFiLlama indicate that the protocol's daily revenue has remained below US$ 800 since November 2025. The fees generated by the blockchain also remained at very low levels for several months and, in the last 24 hours, totaled only US$ 8.
Meanwhile, the MOVE renewed its all-time low on July 20. After being traded near US$ 0,041 in January, the asset fell to approximately US$ 0,01043, accumulating a decline of more than 99% relative to its all-time high of US$ 1,45.
Even with the cryptocurrency's sharp decline, the network's total value locked (TVL) remains around US$ 133 milhões.
Initially developed to connect blockchains built with the Move language to the Ethereum ecosystem, Movement announced a change in strategy in June. The company began prioritizing solutions aimed at international payments, remittances, and products focused on the dollar-based economy, in an attempt to reposition the platform amid the decline in on-chain activity and the loss of investor confidence.