Aptos founder and CEO Mo Sheck has stepped up to ‘start a new chapter’
Mohammed Shaikh, founder and CEO of layer-1 blockchain Aptos Labs, has stepped down from his top position to “start a new chapter”.
Sheikh co-founded Aptos Labs in 2021 with Ching to help launch Aptos MainNet in October 2022.
“Today I am stepping away from Aptos Labs to begin a new chapter,” Sheikh said in a Dec. 19 X post before expressing his confidence in the future.
“I leave Aptos Labs with full confidence in the team and believe that the talent and drive of Aptos Labs will bring our shared vision to life in the near future. Avery will step in as CEO of Aptos Labs to move the company into its next phase of growth.”
Source: Mo Sheik
Aptos Labs echoed the optimism in a post on Dec. 19, noting that its focus is now “sharper than ever” and that 2025 will see Aptos deliver “enormous technical innovation” with Ching as its new CEO.
At X Thread, Aptos said it will expand its developer community in countries such as India, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and China.
Aptos is a layer-1 blockchain designed for improved efficiency, security and transaction speed, including blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana and Sui.
The platform uses a blockchain programming language called Move, which was originally created for the Meta closed DEM project.
Sheik previously worked at BlackRock, Boston Consulting Group and Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensys in addition to Meta.
He has helped Aptos build strategic partnerships with the likes of BlackRock, Google, Microsoft, MasterCard and Franklin Templeton and has raised over $400 million from Andreessen ‘a16z' Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures and others over the years.
A16z specifically led a $200 million funding round in March 2022.
Aptos Autumn is back pic.twitter.com/yQnchvQjm4
— Moshaikhs 🌐 aptOS (@moshaikhs) October 4, 2024
Sheik's release was largely met with praise, including a comment from crypto research firm Token Relations: “Thank you for all of your hard work over the years in building Aptos to what it is today.
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Sheikh said he would stay on as a strategic adviser and said his plans would “take a very important moment to reflect on where the world is headed” – particularly in the financial context and how Aptos would be “very grounded”. Layer 1″
The Aptos (APT) token was largely unaffected by the news, but fell 4% in the last 24 hours amid a broader market decline.
APT still has a market cap of $6.4 billion, making it the 31st largest coin in the crypto market, according to CoinGecko data.
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