Solana-based decentralized infrastructure provider io.net, which allows users to rent GPU power for cash, replaced its CEO two days before the project launched.
Ahmed Shedid, one of the founders of io.net, has left “effective immediately” and has been replaced by fellow founder and former COO Tori Green.
The Solana-based AI project aggregates GPU supplies to create a network for machine learning startups to harness computing power at a fraction of the cost compared to traditional cloud.
“While there have been allegations regarding my past, I would like to confirm that I will be stepping down as CEO to allow io.net to move forward without distractions and focus on its growth and success,” said Shadeed on X in June. 9.
Shadeed has not directly responded to these “allegations” – although critics believe he misled the community about how many GPU chips io.net actually offers.
The network also suffered a GPU metadata attack on April 28, which caused the number of active GPU connections to temporarily drop from 600,000 to 10,000.
Io.net launch code
io.net’s token, IO, is scheduled to launch on the Binance Launchpool on June 11 at midnight UTC. 95,000,000 IO tokens will be issued at launch, and a maximum of 800,000,000 IO tokens can be traded.
The timing of Shadeed’s departure led to fears that Shadeed might “throw away” its I/O parts at launch and then “disappear”.
“(It’s) as shady as Debbin’ can be,” industry critic Badenglishtea told his 15,300 X followers.
But Shadid responded to the accusation, saying that his IO tokens are subject to a 4-year lock-up period and that no investor, advisor or team member can sell his monthly tokens until June 2025.
Shadid also said he would personally contribute 1 million IO tokens to the company’s Internet GPU Foundation to “help grow the ecosystem.”
The outgoing CEO did not indicate whether he would remain connected to the io.net ecosystem. Cointelegraph contacted io.net but did not receive an immediate response.
Further leadership changes at io.net will also be announced in the “coming days,” according to new CEO Green.
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Green said the token launch “heralds a new phase of growth for the network.”
“We remain committed to our mission of building the world’s largest decentralized AI computing network and plan to focus heavily on acquiring and retaining vendors as well as attracting new customers.”
Green explained that Io.net includes nearly 20,000 cluster-ready GPUs and offers comprehensive AI inference and training workloads typical of several AI-focused companies.
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