- Ahmad Shadid, DePIN Protocol Io.net CEO, left “effective immediately” two days before token launch but said it wasn’t related to allegations regarding his past.
Solana-based decentralized infrastructure provider io.net, which lets users rent out GPU power for money, replaced its CEO two days before the project’s token launch.
$IO Nation, Today I am stepping down as the CEO of https://t.co/pI9FcfdM87, effective immediately. https://t.co/pI9FcfdM87 has grown to be one of the fastest growing decentralized AI companies in the world. After careful consideration, I have decided that it is in the best…
— SHADID | $IO™/ $O™ (@shadid_io) June 9, 2024
Ahmad Shadid, one of the founders of io.net, left “effective immediately” and was replaced by fellow founder and former chief operating officer Tory Green.
The Solana-based AI project aggregates GPU supply to create a network for machine learning startups to tap into computing power at a fraction of the cost compared to the traditional cloud.
“While there have been allegations regarding my past, I want to emphasize that I am stepping down as CEO to allow io.net to move forward without distraction and to focus on its growth and success,” Shadid posted to X on June 9.
Shadid didn’t directly address those “allegations” — though critics believe he had misled the community on how many GPU chips io.net actually offers.
The network also suffered a GPU metadata attack on April 28, which resulted in the number of active GPU connections temporarily falling from 600,000 to 10,000.
Io.net Token To Launch
The io.net token, IO, is set to launch on Binance’s Launchpool on June 11 at 12:00 am UTC. 95,000,000 IO tokens will be released at launch, and a maximum supply of 800,000,000 IO tokens can ever enter circulation.
The timing of Shadid’s departure prompted concern that Shadid may “dump” his IO coins on launch and “disappear.”
“[It’s] as shady as depin gets,” industry pundit badenglishtea told their 15,300 X followers.
But Shadid responded to the accusation, claiming his IO tokens are subject to a 4-year lockup and that no investor, adviser, or team member can sell their monthly vested tokens until June 2025.
I have 4 years lockup + vesting, no investor, advisor or team member gets his monthly vested tokens before 2025/June. Relax.
— SHADID | $IO™/ $O™ (@shadid_io) June 9, 2024
Shadid also said he would personally contribute one million IO tokens toward the firm’s Internet of GPUs Foundation to “help grow the ecosystem.”
The departing CEO didn’t explain whether he would remain connected to the io.net ecosystem. Cointelegraph reached out to io.net but did not receive an immediate response.
Additional leadership changes at io.net will be announced in the “coming days,” too, according to the new CEO, Green.
I am honored to step into the role of CEO for https://t.co/OigQQimgcD, effective immediately.
Under @shadid_io 's leadership, https://t.co/OigQQimgcD has grown into one of the fastest growing AI companies in the world.
Going forward, we will continue to execute on the vision… https://t.co/12vRHJTMRG
— tory.io 🦾 (@MTorygreen) June 9, 2024
Green said the token launch “ushers in a new phase of growth for the network.”
“We remain unwavering in our mission to build the world’s largest decentralized AI compute network and expect to focus heavily on acquiring and retaining suppliers and onboarding new customers.”
Io.net has onboarded approximately 20,000 cluster-ready GPUs and is serving end-to-end AI inference and model training workloads across several AI-focused companies, Green explained.
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