Heads have seemingly rolled in cricket (non-fungible token) NFT platform Rario.

According to media reports, Ankit Wadhwa, the start-up's chief executive and Sunny Bhanot, its chief technology officer, were asked to leave following a decision taken by the board last week.

In addition to these leadership changes, Dream Sports is considering reorganising the NFT company's operations. It has laid off almost 60 per cent of the staff, according to various sources.

In April 2022, Dream Capital—the investment arm of Dream Sports—invested in Rario by leading the latter's $120 million funding round. This move gave Rario access to the 140 million user base of Dream Sports' and its subsidiaries Dream11, DreamSetGo and KheloMore.

Rario had several partnerships, including with sportspeople like cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, IPL franchises Gujarat Titan and Punjab Kings, Abu Dhabi T10, Hero Caribbean Premier League and the Lanka Premier League.

It also had an agreement with Innovative Production Group (IPG) for the Lanka Premier League (LPL), which it ended in July 2023. IPG submitted a notification to Rario, claiming that the termination was a "clear violation of the contractual terms and constitutes an act of bad faith," and sought $400,000 in damages to make up for the harm done, Mint reported. IPG noted that "Under the terms of the agreement, each party was obligated by its own commitments, and IPG scrupulously carried out its obligations throughout the partnership."

"There were numerous instances of Rario not paying its partners or not keeping its promises to them. It got to the point when those partners started contacting Dream Sports, the Rario majority owner. Dream Sports doesn't want to be linked with a firm that breaches agreements because it operates in a very honest and ethical manner. So, a decision was made to remove the Rario founders while the legal team of Dream Sports investigates," a person informed the Mint. 

While NFTs gained popularity in 2020 and 2021, this popularity has gone southward following the global cryptocurrency shakedown, with many customers shying away from it. The prices of NFTs have declined significantly, which has led many too refrain from this sector.