After months of investigation without any single arrest and the main offender on the run teasing the enforcers on Twitter, South Korean police have reportedly captured the first person involved in the Terra blockchain ecosystem collapse. The news about the arrest of Yoo Mo, the head of the business team of Terraform Labs, appeared in Korean media on Nov. 6, later the district prosecutor Choi Sung-kook confirmed the information to Forkast. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office issued a bench warrant on Yoo on Nov. 5, reportedly charging him with the violation of the Capital Markets Act and fraud by …
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced it completed the first burn of Terra Classic tokens’ trading fees in response to a community proposal from September. In an Oct. 3 update, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the exchange had burned roughly $1.8 million worth of Terra Classic (LUNC) — formerly Terra (LUNA) — trading fees for LUNC/BUSD and LUNC/USDT spot and margin trading pairs. According to Binance, the burn included the equivalent of 1,863,213.47 Tether (USDT) — roughly 5.5 million LUNC. First LUNC burn, $1.8 million ish. https://t.co/b86RlCYqe3 — CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 3, 2022 The exchange’s original announcement from Sept. 26 …
New draft legislation on stablecoins in the United States House of Representatives proposed to impose a two-year ban on new algorithmically pegged stablecoins like TerraUSD (UST). The proposed legislation would require the Department of the Treasury to conduct a study of stablecoins similar to UST in collaboration with the United States Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. An algorithmic stablecoin is a digital asset the value of which is kept steady by an algorithm. While an algorithmic stablecoin is pegged to the value of a …
Terraform Labs, the company behind the development of the Terra (LUNA) blockchain said South Korea’s case against its co-founder Do Kwon has become political, alleging prosecutors expanded the definition of a security in response to public pressure. “We believe that this case has become highly politicized, and that the actions of the Korean prosecutors demonstrate unfairness and a failure to uphold basic rights guaranteed under Korean law,” a Terraform Labs spokesman said to The Wall Street Journal on Sept. 28. South Korean prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Kwon on Sept. 14 for violations of the countries capital markets laws, …
South Korean authorities have requested crypto exchange OKX and Kucoin to freeze 3,313 Bitcoin (BTC) reportedly tied to Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terra blockchain developer Terraform Labs. Kwon, who is currently on the run from the Korean authorities in the securities violation case, reportedly created a new wallet on Sept. 15, just a day after a Korean court issued an arrest warrant against the fugitive crypto founder. According to the crypto analytic group Cryptoquant, a new BTC wallet was created under the name of Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), and a total of 3,313 BTC was then transferred to the …
Terra co-founder Do Kwon, wanted by South Korean authorities and whose whereabouts are currently unknown, has suggested he’s not changing his routine in response to potential legal action. In a Monday tweet, Kwon said members of Crypto Twitter had likely seen him walking on the street or around shopping malls — without mentioning the city or country — in “the past couple weeks” despite Interpol reportedly issuing a Red Notice for the Terra co-founder. Kwon told his more than one million followers in a reply that he had not seen his name on Interpol’s list of individuals to “locate and …
The market capitalization of USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin issued by U.S.-based payment tech firm Circle, has dropped below $50 billion for the first time since January 2022. On the weekly chart, USDC's market cap, which reflects the number of U.S. dollar-backed tokens in circulation, fell to $49.39 billion on Sep. 26, down almost 12% from its record high of $55.88 billion, established merely three months ago. In contrast, the market cap of Tether (USDT), which risked losing its top stablecoin position to USDC in May, crossed above $68 billion on Sep. 26, albeit still down 17.4% from its record …
To support the Terra community’s efforts to revive the Terra LUNA Classic (LUNC) token, crypto exchange Binance announced an off-chain burning mechanism last week. However, after receiving mixed reactions from community members, the exchange revised its burning approach. On Sept. 23, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao wrote that the exchange will create an optional 1.2% tax when trading LUNC. Zhao added that they will roll out the 1.2% tax for all LUNC trading if traders who opt-in to pay the tax reach 50% of the total LUNC trading volume on the exchange, leaving the decision to users. However, days after the …
Interpol has reportedly issued a “Red Notice” to law enforcement worldwide for the arrest of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon. South Korean prosecutors in Seoul on Monday told Bloomberg the international policing organization issued the notice in response to charges Kwon faces in South Korea related to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. The news comes only a week after South Korean prosecutors reportedly asked Interpol to issue a “Red Notice” for Kwon on Sept. 19. A Red notice is a “request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action” …
The infamous collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which erased market prices of TerraUSD (UST) and LUNA tokens, continues to trouble anxious investors as co-founder Do Kwon, crypto exchanges and the community together tries to identify the best route for a sustainable price recovery. Most recently, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, the CEO of crypto exchange Binance, recommended a flat 1.2% trading tax on LUNC trades that could be burned to reduce the token’s total supply and improve its price performance. Addressing the community, CZ stated: “We will implement an opt-in button (on the Binance exchange), for people to opt-in to pay a …
Jerry Sambuaga, the deputy ministry with Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade, has proposed a rule which would require leadership at the country’s crypto exchanges to have more representation from its citizens. In a Tuesday parliamentary meeting which included Indonesian regulatory officials, a letter submitted by Sambuaga suggested several policy changes in response to the “interesting year for the development of physical trading of crypto assets” in the country. Among the proposed rules included a requirement for two-thirds of directors and commissioners at crypto firms to be “Indonesian citizens and domiciled in Indonesia.” A Wednesday report from Bloomberg suggested that the proposed …
South Korean prosecutors have reportedly requested Interpol intervene in their case against Terra co-founder Do Kwon by issuing a 'Red Notice' — suggesting global law enforcement agencies may attempt to find and detain him. According to a Monday report from the Financial Times, the Seoul Southern District prosecutors’ office said it had “begun the procedure” to place Kwon on Interpol’s Red Notice list following steps to revoke the Terra co-founder’s passport while he was in Singapore. Interpol’s website states that a Red Notice requested authorities “locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action,” but the …