Interpol Issues Red Notice for Terra’s Do Kwon, Korea Says
The ecosystem of Kwon's Terraform Labs was destroyed for $60 billion,His native South Korea's prosecutors demanded that he be detained.
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| Image Credit: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg Do Kwon in Seoul in April. |
Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, is wanted on charges related to the $60 billion wipeout of cryptocurrencies he created, according to South Korea's report from Interpol.
A Red Notice has been issued for Kwon by the international police organization, according to Seoul's prosecutors in a text message sent on Monday. Kwon is the latest shameful incident in a $2 trillion digital asset meltdown that exposed extremely risky business practices. Emails requesting comment from Interpol, Kwon, or Terraform Labs did not immediately receive a response.
Kwon and five other people have been charged with crimes, including breaking the capital markets law, by South Korean authorities. Kwon earlier this year relocated from South Korea to Singapore, where his now-defunct Terraform Labs project had a base. However, it is unclear where he is now after the city-state announced on September 17 that he has left. The search for him was subsequently intensified by the prosecution.
The algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and its sister token Luna were created by Terraform Labs. In May, both coins crashed, causing enormous losses in the cryptocurrency markets, which were already in trouble due to tightening monetary policy.
Regulators from all over the world are sifting through the debris to figure out how to prevent a repeat as digital assets have not yet recovered. In South Korea, growing contempt for cryptocurrency is replacing earlier ardor.
Three Arrows Capital, a once-flying cryptocurrency hedge fund, came apart as a result of Terra's collapse and the general market crash. Lenders and brokers like Voyager Digital Ltd. and Celsius Network Ltd. were also affected by the contagion.
Kwon's arrest warrant was issued, according to South Korean prosecutors, in part due to "circumstantial evidence of escape" ever since he left for Singapore. They disputed his assertion that he was cooperating as well.
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| Image Credit: bloomberg |
Kwon has previously stated on Twitter that he and his team are "in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions" and "we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity." He also added that they "look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months."
Prosecutors in South Korea claim that one of the reasons they issued a warrant for Kwon's arrest was because there was "circumstantial evidence of escape" ever since he left for Singapore. Additionally, they disputed his assertion that he was cooperating.
Kwon has said on Twitter in the past, "We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions — we have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months.