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Terra’s Daniel Shin To Make His 1st Formal Court Appearance

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Terra’s indicted co-founder Daniel Shin is set to make a court appearance at the Seoul Southern District Court for his first trial on May 26, according to a local report.

Shin, a co-accused in the Terra project failure was recently indicted by South Korea on violations of capital-markets law among other charges.

He and nine other staff members of Terraform Labs face multiple charges, for illegal trading; two others are accused of breach of trust.

In the Bloomberg report on April 25, prosecutors froze assets worth roughly 246 billion won [$184 million] allegedly belonging to Shin and nine others.

The property freeze procedure including imposing foreclosure on flats and foreign vehicles owned by former executives and others, marked the first step towards retrieving the proceeds of crime, the report noted.

According to investigators, all the defendants were directly involved with the crypto project, having handled marketing, systems development, and management. 

However, Shin’s lawyer, Kim Ki-dong, denied all the accusations in a statement.

Shin has nothing to do with the Terra, Luna collapse as he left the [company] two years before the fallout. He voluntarily returned to South Korea immediately after the collapse and has been faithfully cooperating with the probe for over 10 months, hoping to contribute to fact-finding.

Meanwhile, a Seoul Court gave the green signal to seize $176 million in assets owned by Do Kwon, a key figure in the Terra Luna debacle and Shin’s former business partner.

Terra’s Main Accused Assets Seized

The move followed after a local news agency claimed that the Terra co-founder had allegedly hidden $100 million in a Swiss bank account.

While on the run, Do-hyung Kwon, reportedly disputed US jurisdiction. This comes amidst South Korean and American law enforcement agencies competing to extradite the wanted crypto billionaire who was recently apprehended in Montenegro.

It is not yet known whether the Supreme Court actually granted the request for a postponement or whether the Terra founder actually appealed.

According to some analysts, the disgraced CEO may be buying time to lessen the severity of his sentence in the future.

On May 12, 2022, stablecoin UST and the crypto asset LUNA of the Terra Ecosystem crashed in a matter of days with investors losing millions of savings. Prosecutors alleged that the defendants took away profit worth 463 billion won [nearly $346 million] before the collapse.

Terra Founder Stashed 91.4B Assets Elsewhere, Not In South Korea- Report

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Do Kwon, Terra’s disgraced co-founder has “zero” identifiable assets in his native South Korea, Seoul Southern District Prosecutors confirmed to KBS.

According to a report from national news broadcaster KBS, local officials have acknowledged that none of Kwon’s assets are under their authority, but they claim that around 91.4 billion won of the whole amount belong to him.

A domestic property affiliate of Kwon Do-Hyung, however, only identified by “0 won,” was not included in the scope of the provisional seizure.

Moreover, Shin Hyun-Seung, also known as Daniel Shin, the second founder of Terraform has had his assets temporarily taken by the authorities.

Property and imported cars are among the confiscated assets. According to the prosecutors, Shin made illegal earnings of more than 154 billion won from the failed Terra-Luna project.

Furthermore, South Korean authorities claim that nine employees, including former and current Terraform Labs leaders, illegally earned roughly 414.5 billion Korean won [$314.2 million] from the project.

There has currently been a thorough hunt for domestic properties that were purchased with the enormous riches they received from Terra.

The property freeze procedure, which entails imposing foreclosure on flats and foreign vehicles owned by former executives and others, is the first step towards retrieving the proceeds of crime, the report noted.

But what surprised the investigators was that CEO Kwon, the former CEO who amassed tens of billions in illegal profits, did not own any property in Korea.

Terra’s Do Kwon Might Have Moved His Assets Into Overseas Exchange

An official from the prosecution said, “It was found that there is almost no property owned by CEO Kwon in Korea.”

The report also makes the assumption that the founder of Terra has converted a significant portion of his assets to Bitcoin and moved them to an international exchange for digital assets.

Meanwhile, prosecutors stated they had requested Binance, the biggest exchange in the world, to prevent CEO Kwon from withdrawing any cryptocurrencies.

Recently, the Kwon’s attorneys reportedly disputed US jurisdiction, while on the run as reported by TronWeekly.

Just two weeks before, the CEO was detained in Montenegro while attempting to board a flight using fictitious documents to conceal his identity. Both the United States of America and South Korea requested his extradition once his true identity was established.

Terra’s Do Kwon Escapes To Serbia Via Dubai

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Terra’s co-founder Do Kwon is reportedly in Serbia, and South Korean authorities are seeking assistance from the Serbian government in the investigation.

“Recently, we obtained intelligence that CEO Kwon was in Serbia, and it was found to be true,” an official from the investigation stated.

31 years old Kwon Do-hyeong who headed Terraform Labs was the face behind the “Luna crisis” where investors lost over 50 trillion won due to the price collapse of the two sister tokens Luna and Terra in May.

Terraform Labs is the firm that issued both stablecoin Terra [UST] and crypto asset LUNA.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office’s Financial and Securities Criminal Unit obtained an arrest warrant for Kwon on charges of providing false information to investors in September, and Interpol also issued a ‘red wanted’, the highest level of wanted arrest and repatriation.

But just before the incident, Kwon quietly flew to Singapore in April and arrived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates before finally landing in Serbia. 

It is still unclear why CEO Kwon went to Serbia. But prosecutors believe he is fleeing abroad to avoid investigation and is trying to find out if there is any third party involved.

The Terra founder made a long-awaited appearance in an exclusive interview on October 18 with renowned author and crypto journalist Laura Shin, TronWeekly reported.

Shin, the host of the Unchained podcasts, posed some challenging questions to the evasive founder.

The first of which was about the Red Notice that Interpol had issued calling for his arrest. Kwon replied he did not receive any copy of the arrest warrant and was awaiting confirmation.

He expressed his dissatisfaction with the Financial Services Commission of South Korea, for “creating new regulations through criminal enforcement proceedings.”

Calling the charges “illegitimate and politically motivated,” Do Kwon said he is complying with all the document requests made by the South Korean prosecutors.

Recently, the embattled CEO took aim at former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried blaming the latter for the Terra-LUNA crisis.

Terra Founder Accuses SBF of Putting Significant Wager On Luna’s Price

He alleged that either SBF or Alameda received $1 billion in TerraUSD stablecoins from Genesis Trading prior to the UST depeg.

According to Kwon, Sam Bankman-cryptocurrency Fried’s trading business Alameda placed a sizeable bet that the value of LUNA would fall.

Wemade’s WEMIX Token To Be Delisted After Court Rejects Injunction

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WEMIX, the native token of South Korean video game developer, Wemade was delisted by the nation’s four crypto exchanges on the grounds of inaccurate reporting of circulation data.

Bithumb, Upbeat, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax — which are part of the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance [DAXA] announced on Nov. 24 that they would end the support for WEMIX on Dec. 8.

A few months prior, the group issued an investment warning that there was considerably more WEMIX in circulation than disclosed, and Wemade had agreed to work with DAXA to alleviate these concerns.

However, the situation worsened when Wemade CEO Henry Chang, speaking at an online press conference on November 25, criticized Upbit for misusing its authority by delisting WEMIX and threatened to report the exchanges to the Fair Trade Commission.

The online game publisher refused to back down and ultimately filed an injunction request in a bid to prevent other exchanges from delisting its token.

As reported by Money Today News, South Korea’s Seoul Central District Court has now dismissed the firm’s suggestion after the hearing on Dec. 2.

This implies that the four exchanges will remove the token from their platform at 3 p.m. on 8th Dec.

WEMIX Token Drop By 50%

As word of the delisting decision spread, WEMIX Communication issued a statement stating it had sincerely followed DAXA’s requests and concerns and fixed a number of problems where they felt the group’s circulating supply had been overestimated, adding:

“The team does not acknowledge or agree with the unreasonable decision made by the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA)… It is crucial to note that the Foundation has not circulated a single WEMIX more than what we have officially disclosed thus far.”

The price of WEMIX plummeted following the news, and at the time of writing is down by over 47% with a current price of $0.35.

Meanwhile, Binance has come to the gaming firm’s aid as its legal issues have gotten worse. Wemade’s token will be kept under institutional custody by Binance Custody, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

It will manage the asset and verify its circulation volume from next week, as per Wemade Co. Ltd. Moreover, 70% of WEMIX’s total supply, which contributes to 92% of the cryptocurrency that is not in circulation, will be overseen by Binance Custody. 

Terraform Labs’ Co-founder to be prosecuted by S.Korea

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Terraform Labs has been in the news for a while now. Earlier this month, according to reports, South Korean authorities had summoned Daniel Shin, a co-founder of Terraform Labs, to appear at an investigation this week about allegations that he unfairly profited from the sale of LUNA [now LUNC] tokens.

Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, is now reporting that Shin’s arrest is being sought by the prosecution. According to reports, Shin is accused by the prosecution of obtaining illicit profits while selling $105 million of LUNA at a market high without telling investors. He’s also accused of breaking the Electronic Financial Transaction Act by utilizing client information from Chai, a different business he oversaw, to advertise Luna.

Previously, on the 15th, the prosecution requested a collection preservation freeze before the conviction was confirmed to stop the sale of the property suspected of having been acquired through criminal activity prior to prosecution for the new representative property, which was quoted by the court and is worth about 140 billion won.

Additionally, CEO Shin is charged with harming the business by pushing Luna and the stablecoin Terra while exploiting customer data and monies held by Chai Corporation.

The Personal Information Protection Act and other pertinent rules are followed in the secure management of customers’ personal information, according to a notice on the homepage of Chai Corporation.

Shin Refutes Ties With Terraform Labs

Shin has repeatedly said that he severed connections with Do Kwon and Terraform Labs in 2020. He then went on to found Chai Corporation, a provider of payment technology, where he is presently CEO and founder.

According to the most recent source, authorities have now charged the former Terra official with “breach of duty, as Chai Corporation’s customer information and finances were allegedly used to promote Terra’s stablecoin and Luna cryptocurrency.”

He will also be questioned about if he knew about insider trading and price manipulation that Terraform Labs allegedly carried out to raise the price of LUNA.

Do Kwon also has a warrant out for his arrest, however it is still unknown where he is. Exiting the country has been prohibited for key Terraform Labs personnel and former workers.

Conflicts Over Terra Token Treatment Due To Lack Of Regulations

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The collapse of Terra happened months ago. However, the aftereffect is still present in the crypto-hallways. verse’s The South Korean authorities are currently making every attempt to apprehend Do Kwon, the project’s originator.

Authorities in South Korea are having difficulty compiling a compelling case against the token’s founder Do Kwon. According to a Bloomberg story, disagreements about how to manage Terra tokens are emerging as a result of the lack of laws.

The prosecutor’s office recently asked that a Terraform Labs ecosystem participant be jailed. The court, however, turned down their motion. Despite what the prosecutors asserted, the judge concluded that it is still unclear if the defendant truly violated the South Korean Capital Markets Act.

The prosecution seems to mention the difficulties of the case while implying that it is working hard to prove the case. The authorities insist that further research is ongoing despite the lack of specific restrictions.

Terra Chief’s Whereabouts Still Unknown?

Do Kwon, the chief of Terra, is charged with breaking the Capital Markets Act, while he insists that he did nothing illegal. Kwon is the subject of an Interpol and local South Korean authorities’ arrest warrant. Kwon’s whereabouts are still a mystery.

Kwon, who continues to maintain his innocence, has received a red alert from Interpol. Furthermore, Kwon asserted that the red notice is not an arrest warrant in a recent interview with Laura Shin. When asked where he lived, Kwon also declined to give his address. Rumors suggest that he might be in Dubai, though.

Additional charges against Kwon have not yet been made public by the prosecution. The Terra disaster resulted in losses for a total of 280,000 persons, who claimed compensation. In a lawsuit brought by the lawyer for the victims, Kwon was charged with fraud and illegal fundraising.

On the other hand, today’s crypto markets experienced a small reprieve, and the Terra tokens also experienced a rise. At the time of writing, Luna Classic (LUNC) was priced at $0.00024929 with a daily hike of 8.0%. However, LUNA was priced at $2.47 with a rise of 4.2% over the last 24 hours.

These 2 Crypto Exchanges Follow Binance Into Busan

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South Korea’s propensity towards cryptocurrencies and crypto exchanges has been making news. But this wasn’t just about cryptocurrency. The nation was seen adopting the underpinning technology of cryptocurrencies. One of South Korea’s largest cities, Busan, has been working to become the next major blockchain hub. Leading crypto exchanges Gate.io and Crypto.com have decided to support Busan’s attempts to develop its blockchain ecosystem.

Reportedly, Busan secured commercial deals with Gate.io and Crypto.com, according to recent sources. Both exchanges were required to open shops in the South Korean city as per the terms of this agreement.

Additionally, each of these platforms would offer assistance in creating Busan’s municipally supported crypto exchange, which is anticipated to be the first of its kind.

It should be emphasized that each of these exchanges had a designated role. For example, it was expected of Crypto.com to support the expansion of regional blockchain firms. On the other hand, Gate.io is anticipated to annually train more than a thousand local blockchain professionals.

Additionally, each of these exchanges would be eligible to participate in Busan Blockchain Week [BWB], which is slated to run from October 27 to October 29.

Busan: The New Crypto Exchange Hub

It appears like Busan is strongly leaning toward becoming a significant blockchain hub. The city has recently attracted well-known cryptocurrency exchanges. Binance, owned by Changpeng Zhao, entered first, followed by FTX and Huobi, in that order.

The Busan Digital Asset Exchange is being built by all of the aforementioned exchanges, as well as Crypto.com and Gate.io. Park Hyung-jun, Busan’s Mayor stated,

“With this agreement, Busan is one step closer to becoming a global digital finance hub city.”

It should be mentioned that in August of this year, Crypto.com branched out into South Korea. The exchange was successful in acquiring the well-known virtual asset service provider license and the Electronic Financial Transaction Act registration from PnLink Co. and OK-BIT Co.

In a statement, Crypto.com announced that it had successfully acquired both the virtual asset service provider OK-BIT Co., Ltd. and payment service provider PnLink Co., Ltd. By doing this, the crypto platform expanded its market share in South Korea and concurrently obtained registrations as a virtual-asset service provider and under the country’s Electronic Financial Transaction Act.

Terra: Do Kwon’s Associate Listed As A Witness Before Audit Committee

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Terra’s co-founder and developer Daniel Shin along with representatives of the digital asset industry would bear witness before South Korea’s financial audit committee in the upcoming annual state audit, local sources reported.

According to reports, witnesses for a three-week parliamentary audit beginning on October 4 will include Tchai Holdco general manager Shin Hyun-Seung, DSRV Labs CEO Kim Ji-Yoon, Bithumb Chairman Lee Jeong-hoon, and Dunamu CEO Lee Sirgoo.

“We are internally assessing how to prepare”, an industry official told the newspaper.

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Terra: Do Kwon's Associate Listed As A Witness Before Audit Committee 2

Kwon and Shin founded Terraform Labs in 2018 with the goal of competing with PayPal and other industry giants. Later that year, the two raised $32 million, and in 2019, an ICO raised $62 million.

In March 2020, Shin took a step back from his ownership of Terraform Labs and resigned as CEO in order to focus on his other venture Chai. Do Kwon, the other co-founder, then assumed leadership of the company.

According to a Bloomberg article quoting local media, after Terra’s fallout, Shin’s home in Seoul was searched for potential illicit behavior. Investigators reportedly also went to the Chai office, a mobile payment app Shin founded in 2019.

The raids were a part of the investigation on claims that Kwon purposefully brought TerraUSD to its demise.

In order to estimate the extent of investor losses, a team of South Korean detectives also went to the offices of seven local cryptocurrency exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone, and seized transaction records and other data.

Terra’s “Wanted Man” Deny Rumours Of Cashing Out

Shin’s colleague and partner Do Kwon is currently a wanted man by Interpol who allegedly tried to transfer several millions worth of BTC across exchanges. Upon discovery, prosecutors have frozen transactions on the suspicion of money laundering and concealment. 

After a South Korean court issued an arrest order for Do Kwon, he denied attempting to pay out the millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. Kwon criticized media organizations for disseminating “misinformation” about him in a recent tweet.

Kwon and five other Terraform Labs affiliates are charged with breaking the country’s capital markets law by South Korean authorities. Kwon is also accused of other offenses that the prosecution has not yet made public.

Terra founder issued with arrest warrant

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Authorities from all across the world have been looking into Terraform Labs, its founder Do Kwon, and other connected parties. Terra [LUNA] and its native stablecoin UST lost the majority of their value earlier this year. Investors suffered enormous losses as a result of this. The market as a whole got tumultuous as a result of the same having a knock-on effect on the larger ecosystem.

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Do Kwon, Founder of Terra

The most recent development indicates that South Korean officials aim to detain Terra’s creator Do Known by issuing a warrant for his arrest. According to a recent Bloomberg report:

“The court in Seoul issued a warrant for Do Kwon and five others, according to a text message from the prosecutor’s office.”

Terra in troubled waters

It is important to remember that recent local media reports claimed that South Korean authorities were looking at whether the Terra ecosystems had securities-like traits. Notably, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office Terra investigative team was evaluating Luna’s securities capabilities using precedents from other countries.

Authorities reportedly called in virtual asset specialists to hear different points of view. Additionally, they cited the Financial Supervisory Service and other financial authorities as references.

They stated in their report from yesterday that Luna and Terra could face charges of breaking the Capital Market Act for unfair trade, such as market price manipulation, if the prosecution determines that they have securities properties. According to Bloomberg, who confirmed the trigger for the warrant’s issue,

“A local newspaper earlier reported that the warrant was related to a violation of capital market rules.“

According to  Kim Jeong-Cheol, an advocate from Woori Law Firm,

“Currently, virtual assets are not recognized as securities, so the Capital Market Act does not apply. In a situation where the discussion has progressed considerably, there is a high possibility that the Luna-Tera case will become Korea’s ‘leading case’ no matter what charges are indicted.”

In addition, Kim Dong-hwan, Director of blockchain consulting business Blitz Labs, stated,

“In 2018, the investigative authorities only investigated Coinone’s margin trading allegations, but since then, no one has done anything. Therefore, if the public authorities look into it, it will inevitably have a debilitating effect.”

It appeared up until this point that Terra and its CEO were being cautiously viewed by banking authorities. The issuing of the most recent arrest warrant, however, suggests a change in position.

Busan ropes in FTX to better its crypto-verse

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The city of Busan signed a contract with well-known crypto exchange FTX in order to quicken its leaning towards the sector. This action is consistent with the city’s overarching aim to establish itself as a major financial and blockchain hub.

The cryptocurrency sector has become increasingly popular. Governments have begun to enact crypto-friendly laws after finally listening to the people. South Korea appears to be a front-runner in the race to establish itself as a crypto hub. The nation has been delving deeply into both crypto and the metaverse.

For a variety of reasons, Sam Bankman Fried’s FTX has been receiving attention. FTX is the talk of the town in the cryptocurrency world, thanks to speculations of acquisition by Huobi and its SBF’s recent trip to the White House. The exchange recently secured a contract with Busan City to introduce blockchain-based enterprises to the area, adding another feather to its crown.

The Busan Metropolitan City department stated in a recent press release that FTX will help the city promote blockchain-related education. The exchange is anticipated to work with nearby colleges to achieve the same goals.

The company will also assist the city in establishing the Busan Digital Asset Exchange. The city’s Mayor Park Hyung-jun said the following when discussing the same,

“With this agreement, we will help establish the Busan Digital Asset Exchange and secure a new growth engine for the local economy by making Busan a specialized block-chain city. I will not stop.”

Furthermore, it has been said that FTX plans to open a Korean branch within the coming year.

Busan explores blockchain technology

Busan has made a strong case for investigating blockchain technology. The city sought advice from persons with experience in the field. Because of this, the city has taken platforms like FTX and Binance under its wing.

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Source: Twitter

Just last week, Binance said that it had inked an MoU with the city’s blockchain ecosystem development organization.

Cryptocurrencies haven’t been favorably received since the Terra catastrophe. Although the South Korean government has laid out a clear structure, it appears that the region’s cities are concentrating on blockchain technology.

When the Korean stablecoin project Terra collapsed in May, local industry analysts told the media that hopeful development ambitions had been dashed. As a result, it is believed that the government is now taking a cautious approach to the spread of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the nation.