PostedSeptember 17, 2022, 9:52 PM
Terra Founder WantedHe caused the cryptocurrency market to lose 500 billion
Do Kwon is under arrest warrant after causing investors to lose $40 billion this year and more than $500 billion in the cryptocurrency market.
In April 2022, the value of terra had peaked. According to CoinMarketCap, it was then the fourth largest stablecoin and the tenth largest cryptocurrency by market value.
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Do Kwon, South Korean co-founder of the Terra cryptocurrency, under an arrest warrant issued Wednesday in Seoul, was nowhere to be found on Saturday in Singapore where the press suspected him of being. For their part, the Singapore police say he is not in the city-state. The main interested party posted a series of tweets on Saturday claiming that he is not on the run, that he is fully cooperating with the authorities and has nothing to hide, but that he does not see why he would say what it does and where it is.
Canceled passport
The Singapore newspaper Straits Times reported that Do Kwon’s work permit in Singapore was set to expire on December 7. According to this media, Do Kwon would have applied for the renewal of this permit, but the procedure would have been made impossible due to the cancellation of his passport by the South Korean authorities.
The 31-year-old suspect has caused investors to lose $40 billion this year and more than $500 billion in the cryptocurrency market following the crash of his stablecoin. That collapse led a South Korean court to issue an arrest warrant for him on Wednesday. Do Kwon had given his first interview in August to the media after the crash in May, in which he admitted his wrongdoing.
Winds of panic on an already feverish crypto-asset market
In April 2022, the value of terra had peaked. According CoinMarketCap, it was then the fourth largest stablecoin and the tenth largest cryptocurrency by market value. But a month later, terra lost more than half its value in 24 hours, sending a wave of panic through an already feverish crypto-asset market.
Very quickly, the stablecoin and its sister token Luna fell to zero, leading to losses of more than $500 billion in the market and hitting all the savings of many small investors in the process. South Korean authorities have since opened several criminal investigations into the case.
(AFP)