Ex-Crypto Exec Claims DeFi Company Cut Him Out of Lucrative Stablecoin Biz M^0

Max Glass, a former government at crypto infrastructure and consulting agency RWA Company, has sued the corporate, claiming he was wrongfully fired and coerced into signing away his rights so the agency might pursue its stablecoin plans with out him.

By doing so, the corporate dedicated an act of “fiduciary betrayal,” in line with the grievance filed in a Delaware Chancery Court docket lawsuit on Monday. RWA Company went on to develop a stablecoin enterprise, which later turned M^0—a stablecoin infrastructure supplier that is helped launch a number of multi-million-dollar stablecoin tasks, together with MetaMask’s mUSD.

“It arises from a scheme of coercion, fraudulent inducement, and the next breaches of each fiduciary obligation and contract by the controlling fiduciaries of RWA Company LLC, Gregory DiPrisco and Joseph Quintilian,” Glass claims within the lawsuit, referring to the corporate’s two different executives. “DiPrisco and Quintilian breached their duties of loyalty and candor to usurp a useful company alternative—a brand new stablecoin product—developed with the Company’s key accomplice, CrossLend GmbH.”

CrossLend is a German fintech startup that digitizes and standardizes mortgage information. It’s not a crypto startup, however its expertise gives a bridge so on-chain protocols can devour mortgage and debt information. In line with the grievance, RWA labored with CrossLend to develop an concept for a stablecoin enterprise, however then diverted these efforts to kind a brand new entity that later rebranded to M^0.

In doing so, Glass alleges he was wrongfully reduce out from the upside of the stablecoin enterprise. “The M^0 enterprise was not merely impressed by the RWA Co.-CrossLend relationship; it was constructed upon it,” Glass stated within the grievance.

Glass additionally alleges a “sample of concealment” on behalf of RWA, over the course of a number of years, that obscures the exact relationship between the corporate, its founders, and M^0. He claims his inquiries as as to whether the businesses had merged went unanswered.

M^0 didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Decrypt.

M^0 has an extended record of traders, together with Wintermute Ventures, ParaFi, HackVC, Anthony Scaramucci’s Salt, Galaxy, Polychain, and Bain Capital. The corporate was one of the suppliers that helped launch Ethereum pockets MetaMask’s native stablecoin, MetaMask USD, or mUSD, in August.

MetaMask Unveils mUSD Stablecoin on Ethereum and Linea, Teases Debit Card Functionality

Underneath the hood, mUSD makes use of Bridge, Stripe’s stablecoin arm, to deal with issuance, licensing, and reserve administration. M^0 is a component of Bridge’s tech stack and used to assist minting and interoperability options for mUSD.

Glass stated he was answerable for writing the Maker Enchancment Proposal that led to Huntingdon Valley Financial institution securing a $100 million stablecoin mortgage via MakerDAO, an enormous participant within the DeFi house and the issuer of the USDS stablecoin, previously often called DAI.

Glass is in search of punitive damages from the defendants, in addition to rescission of his termination, disgorgement of all beneficial properties from “wrongful conduct,” and an injunction that might forestall defendants “from promoting, transferring, distributing, or in any other case encumbering their possession pursuits within the M^0 Enterprise.”