Tag: LUNA

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Crime Crypto Exchange Illegal Stablecoins

Terra Co-founder Do Kwon Denies $39.6M Crypto Asset Freeze

Do Kwon, the CEO of Terraform Labs and the man behind the collapsed LUNA ecosystem, has denied a report from South Korean news outlet News1 claiming local prosecutors have frozen some of his crypto assets valued at 56.2 billion won (US$39.6 million).

In response to the report, Kwon tweeted that it’s a ‘falsehood’ and that he doesn’t have time to trade crypto.

Mounting Reports Matched by Kwon Denials

In his tweet Kwon also denied having accounts on the crypto exchanges KuCoin and OKX — this was a reference to his earlier denial of a September report that South Korean authorities had asked these exchanges to freeze 3,313 Bitcoin (BTC) linked to Kwon held on their platforms. 

Just a day earlier, Bloomberg had reported that South Korean prosecutors were claiming that Interpol had issued a red notice for Kwon, meaning law enforcement organisations globally had been asked to locate and apprehend him if he attempts to cross national borders.

Yet more claims against Kwon were reported back in July, when he was accused of rug pulling LUNA holders by quietly cashing out US$80 million per month in the lead-up to the blockchain’s collapse.

Despite these mounting reports against him and the fact he appears to have gone into hiding, Kwon maintains his innocence and claims to be cooperating with authorities.

Kwon Wanted in Relation to May LUNA Collapse

The legal troubles for Kwon stem from the spectacular collapse of the LUNA ecosystem in May 2022 in which the algorithmic stablecoin UST lost its peg with the US dollar, falling to virtually zero and taking down its sister token LUNA with it. 

This collapse wiped out around US$26 billion of investor value, triggered the collapse of Three Arrows Capital, contributed to the bankruptcy of crypto lenders Voyager and Celsius, and plunged the entire crypto market into a deep winter from which it is yet to emerge.

For his part in LUNA’s collapse, Kwon is now wanted by South Korean authorities for numerous crimes, including breaching the country’s capital-market laws.

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Crypto News Cryptocurrency Law Terra

Luna Investors Apply for Seizure of Do Kwon’s Property in Class Action Lawsuit

A South Korean law firm is suing Terraform Labs founder and CEO Do Kwon over last week’s Terra collapse. The firm will also be filing warrants to seize Kwon’s property:

Investors Stand Against Do Kwon

Kwon and Terraform co-founder Daniel Shin are the subject of a class-action lawsuit from Seoul-based law firm LKB & Partners, filed in the wake of the Terra downfall, with possible criminal charges to follow:

There are related investors inside the law firm, and we will file a complaint against Kwon at the Financial Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Kim Hyeon-Kwon, partner, LKB & Partners

LKB & Partners will sue on behalf of the investors who have lost money because of the UST crash, with some of the impacted Terra employees set to join the suit. LKB & Partners will also file a police complaint and a bid to seize Do Kwon’s property as compensation.

Unfortunately for the Terraform Labs founders, multiple members of the company’s in-house law firm have resigned. While it remains unknown why these employees resigned at the beginning of the crash, it has left Do Kwon in a tough position.

What’s Happening with LUNA?

The news of the collapse of Terra has been hard to miss lately; however, this controversy is the outcome of the depegging of Terra USD (UST). Previously one of the largest stablecoins on the market, the resulting knock-on effects have been immense, including the sinking of LUNA and a negative impact on the DeFi industry.

Kwon has, however, proposed a revival plan for Terra. It constitutes a restart of the entire Terra blockchain and the distribution of one billion new tokens – a plan ex LUNAtics are highly opposed to.

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Australia Crypto News DeFi Terra Tokens

Australian Poll in March Predicted LUNA Would Top $143 This Year

Hindsight is a wonderful thing – in this case, the discovery of an Australian poll dating back to March that predicted the LUNA token would top US$143 this year.

‘LUNA Worth $390 by 2025’: Finder Survey

The crypto industry has proved its volatility lately as Terra fell and LUNA crashed. It was a crash, it seems, no one was expecting, not even the professionals. The Finder survey from March this year, for example, demonstrated the confidence that 36 fintech specialists had in Terra:

In late March to early April – prior to Terra (UST) losing its peg -Finder surveyed 36 fintech specialists for their thoughts on how LUNA [would] perform over the next decade. At the time, they thought Terra (LUNA) would be worth US$143 by the end of 2022 before rising to $390 by 2025.”

Finder.com

The biggest lesson to take out of this is that crypto is unfortunately still very unpredictable. While uncertainty still surrounds the future of LUNA and Terra, no token is exempt from the industry’s volatility and investors need to be smart, rather than taking predictions as gospel:

The LUNA Crash: Knock-On Effects

The LUNA collapse has had industry-wide knock-on effects. One of the most prominent outcomes has been significant falls across the DeFi market, as the crash was not restricted to the Terra ecosystem. With LUNA plummeting by 97 percent, there have now been approximately US$900 million worth of liquidations.

LUNA’s heartbroken founder, Do Kwon, has set to work on a revival plan, which is essentially a restart of the whole Terra blockchain. However, previous fans of LUNA are now struggling to trust the word of Kwon and are sceptical of the project’s return.

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Crypto News Terra

YouTube Crypto Shiller ‘KSI’ Loses $2.8 Million in Terra Collapse

YouTuber JJ Olatunji, better known as English rapper KSI, has gone public with the admission that the US$2.8 million he invested in Terra shrank to a mere $1,000 within 24 hours:

The announcement has left onlookers and KSI’s followers questioning what compelled him to buy into LUNA’s crash in the first place.

Motivation to Invest Remains a Mystery

The reason KSI chose to invest in Terra is unknown, given that the company was, and still is, severely crashing. KSI did state earlier last week that he intended to hold his share long-term.

However, the LUNA token is of unlimited supply and suffering the effects of serious hyperinflation:

KSI has already lost a significant amount of crypto this year, and last week shared a tweet acknowledging the error of his ways:

Terra Collapse’s DeFi Knock-On Effect

Following the sudden de-pegging of TerraUSD (UST) and the subsequent decline of Terra (LUNA), there has been a significant knock-on effect on the wider DeFi market. The issue has extended beyond the borders of the Terra ecosystem and is impacting DeFi tokens across all blockchains, with the entire DeFi market dropping by 21 percent over the 24 hours of May 12.

YouTubers’ Dodgy Crypto Deals

Unfortunately, interaction with, and the promotion of, dodgy crypto deals seem to be a trend among famous YouTubers. Two of the most notable instances of this are:

  • Paul Denino’s (Ice Poseidon) admission that he scammed his fans out of US$500,000 thanks to a crypto pump-and-dump scheme. Denino offered little remorse on being called out.
  • Logan Paul’s promotion of the shitcoin ‘Dink Donk’ earned him a place at the centre of a pump-and-dump scandal as the coin crashed by 95 percent in just two weeks.

The back end of 2021 also saw Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) working hard to prevent hackers from hijacking YouTube channels to utilise them for the promotion of crypto scams. These phishing campaigns have reportedly been an issue since 2019.