Where Has Do Kwon Gone? Terra Chief Says He’s “Not On the Run” as Manhunt Continues

Kwon insisted that he was “not “on the run”” on Twitter Saturday. Authorities have recommended in any other case. 

Do Kwon Disappears

Do Kwon might or might not be “on the run,” relying on whom you ask. 

Questions over the Terraform Labs CEO’s whereabouts surfaced this weekend after Singapore authorities issued a press release claiming that he was not within the nation. Reuters reported on the event Saturday. 

Pricey CT – I’ll inform you what i’m doing and the place i’m if:

1) we’re mates
2) we now have plans to satisfy
3) we’re concerned in a gps primarily based web3 recreation

In any other case you haven’t any enterprise figuring out my gps coordinates

— Do Kwon ? (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022

Inside hours of the replace, Kwon took to Twitter to dismiss the claims. “I’m not “on the run” or something related – for any authorities company that has proven curiosity to speak, we’re in full cooperation and we don’t have something to cover,” he wrote, including that Terraform Labs had held itself to “an especially excessive bar of integrity” because it faces lawsuits in a number of jurisdictions. Crypto Briefing reached out to Kwon to ask about his whereabouts, however had not obtained a response at press time. 

South Korean information outlet Yonhap adopted Kwon’s tweets with an update Sunday, reporting that authorities had dismissed Kwon’s claims. In line with the report, the prosecution concluded that “it’s clear that he escaped.” The report additional famous how Kwon had dissolved Terraform Labs’ Korean entity in April within the lead-up to Terra’s $40 billion collapse then departed for Singapore, one thing Kwon claimed was a pure coincidence when questioned following Terra’s implosion. 

This weekend’s developments come after a Seoul courtroom issued warrants to arrest Kwon and 5 of his associates earlier this week. The warrants alleged that the group had violated Korean capital markets legislation, native media reported citing a message from the prosecutor’s workplace. Following the replace, it emerged that South Korea’s Ministry of International Affairs was looking for to revoke Kwon and 4 of his accomplices’ passports. 

Ought to Terra’s Controversial Boss Be Jailed? 

Kwon’s potential arrest has been a sizzling matter of debate in crypto circles since Terra’s failure in Could, to the purpose the place a token known as “JailKwon” launched earlier this month. Many crypto neighborhood members have questioned how Kwon has evaded arrest to this point, however the house has been divided on whether or not he broke any legal guidelines in overseeing Terra. Kwon and Terraform Labs are presently beneath investigation by Korean regulators and the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee, and are additionally going through a number of class-action lawsuits. 

Moreover Terra’s implosion itself, the opaque nature of Terraform Labs and the Luna Basis Guard’s operations has come beneath scrutiny locally, significantly after greater than $1 billion value of Bitcoin disappeared from LFG’s reserves throughout UST’s collapse. LFG stated it spent the funds making an attempt to protect UST’s peg, however it by no means produced any proof. 

Whereas it’s on the authorities to determine whether or not Kwon needs to be jailed, as a lot as he has claimed that he’s not hiding, it’s obvious that authorities are eager to talk to him. Even when Kwon isn’t charged with any crimes, he’s change into one thing of a villain within the crypto neighborhood because of his conduct within the lead-up to Terra’s failure. Kwon turned infamous for his pompous takes on Crypto Twitter, usually describing others as “poor” and making thinly veiled makes an attempt to endorse LUNA by his and Terra’s official accounts. Terra’s makes an attempt to market UST as a “stablecoin” have additionally sparked debate over whether or not Kwon and his firm deliberately misled traders. After Terra’s blow-up, Kwon was criticized when for launching a plan to revive Terra as Terra 2.0, cloning the blockchain minus its flawed stablecoin. Terra 2.0’s LUNA took successful this week because the arrest warrant information surfaced, as did LUNC (the ticker for the unique LUNA). 

Does Kwon need to be jailed? Perhaps, however maybe that’s not the one query value asking. Did he show a transparent lack of ethics earlier than Terra collapsed? Completely—and for that, many crypto fanatics will probably agree, it appears like Kwon is lastly getting his simply deserts. 

Disclosure: On the time of writing, the creator of this piece owned ETH and several other different cryptocurrencies.