Token S, the native utility asset behind the Sonic blockchain, fell on Friday after Sonic Labs announced the resignation of three former executives from its board of directors.

The S token dropped to 0.031, down 5% in 24 hours. The resignations included Michael Kong, former CEO of the Fantom Foundation and director of Sonic Labs; David Richardson, who was executive chairman of Sonic Labs; and Andre Cronje, who previously served as chief technology officer.

Statement by Andre Cronje regarding his resignation from the Management Board. Source: Another Cronje

“These are the people who built what Sonic is today. They remain committed to Sonic’s success and are fully delegating their responsibilities in the appropriate manner. From now on, they will no longer make business decisions for the organization,” Sonic Labs said, announcing Matt Visser as its modern CEO and Kosta Kourkoumelis as its COO.

Sonic Labs is reviewing its leadership and management structure in an attempt to address growing community dissatisfaction and prolonged decline in the S token, which has dropped 97% since its launch in January 2025 as part of a network modernization.

“We’re not going to start with a victory lap. The token is down. Community sentiment is down. We see both clearly, we’re not spinning it and we’re not asking anyone to pretend otherwise,” Sonic Labs said.

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Sonic Labs, the research and development organization behind the Sonic EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain, is the successor to the Fantom Foundation, which was founded in 2018.

Blockchain focuses on speed, claiming to deliver 10,000 transactions per second and sub-second finality. The rebranding from Fantom to Sonic introduced a major structural and technical upgrade to the network, replacing the older Fantom Opera network.

Sonic Labs said the leadership change would also come with a commitment to move forward limpid managementclear communication on project updates and the creation of a dedicated risk and compliance committee.

The leadership reshuffle comes just days after Ethereum Foundation co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang announced that she had stepped down on Thursday, adding to the list of 19 layoffs and departures from the foundation this year.

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