Key facts
- The S token dropped 5% amid leadership changes at Sonic Labs.
- Andre Cronje, Michael Kong, and David Richardson resigned from the Sonic Labs board.
- Matt Visser was appointed CEO and Kosta Kourkoumelis COO.
- The company aims to improve governance and rebuild trust.
- The S token is down 97% from its January 2025 peak.
Sonic Labs, the research and development firm behind the Sonic blockchain, announced a significant leadership overhaul on Friday, with three longtime board members stepping down. Among the departing executives are Andre Cronje, former CTO; Michael Kong, former CEO of the Fantom Foundation and a Sonic Labs director; and David Richardson, former executive chairman. The company appointed Matt Visser as its new CEO and Kosta Kourkoumelis as chief operating officer.
The S token, the native utility asset of the Sonic blockchain, saw its price drop approximately 5% following the news. It was trading around $0.028, down about 10% over 24 hours and approximately 97% below its all-time high of $1.03 reached in January 2025. The network's market capitalization is near $107 million, with total value locked in its DeFi protocols at about $26 million, a steep decline from its peak of over $1.1 billion in May 2025.
This marks the second leadership change at Sonic Labs in nine months. The company stated that the outgoing executives remain invested in Sonic's success but are handing off all decision-making responsibilities. Sonic Labs acknowledged the current downturn in token price and community sentiment, emphasizing a commitment to operational discipline, rebuilding trust, and more transparent governance, including the establishment of a risk and compliance committee.
Andre Cronje issued a separate statement clarifying his role, stating he led technical work but was not the decision-maker for token emissions, migration, or winding down the legacy Opera network. He noted he was not a founder of the company or original token project. Cronje's current focus is on his DeFi exchange, Flying Tulip, which raised $200 million at a $1 billion valuation in August 2025 and has approximately $70 million in TVL.
Sonic Labs reported that engineering work continued through the leadership changes, with numerous pull requests merged and releases shipped in 2026. Bobby Ong, co-founder of CoinGecko, commented on the token's significant decline, suggesting the market may not have bottomed.