The Terra saga continues. South Korean authorities have ordered crypto exchanges KuCoin and OKX to freeze $67 million worth of bitcoin tied to Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon.
S.Korea Authorities Target LFG’s Reserves
South Korean prosecutors want to freeze Do Kwon’s assets.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office has requested KuCoin and OKX to freeze 3,313 Bitcoins (equivalent to $67 million) that were sent from Terra’s Luna Foundation Guard (LFG).
Kwon, who is currently wanted in 195 countries, is believed to have created new wallets on the exchanges and moved the coins on Sept. 15 — just a day after arrest warrants were issued by a Seoul court against him and five of his accomplices.
Per crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, the funds came from LFG. Kwon managed the non-profit’s funds and bought over $1.7 billion in BTC to reinforce stablecoin reserves months before Terra’s dramatic implosion. This transfer of BTC from LFG’s wallet has baffled many in the cryptosphere as Kwon previously claimed to have utilized all the bitcoin in LFG’s reserves in a bid to restore TerraUSD Classic’s (USTC) parity with the dollar.
Yet, reports show LFG sent some 1,354 BTC to KuCoin, which gratified the prosecutors’ wishes and froze the funds immediately. OKX, however, has reportedly refused to adhere to the order from the Korean authorities. As such, at least 1,959 bitcoins were not frozen and could have been transferred to other platforms by now.
Terra And Kwon Are In Crisis Mode
News of South Korean authorities looking to freeze funds tied to Do Kwon is only the latest development in an ongoing saga surrounding him, Terraform Labs, and the firm’s other co-founder Daniel Shin.
Authorities worldwide have been probing Kwon and Terraform Labs since Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin UST lost its dollar peg back in May in a $60 billion spectacular wipeout event that rocked an already-fragile crypto market.
Terraform Labs and Kwon ditched South Korea for Singapore, but police in Singapore recently confirmed he was not in the country. Kwon took to Twitter to affirm that he was not on the run, a claim that Korean authorities rebutted thereafter.
On Monday, Interpol issued a red notice for Kwon, effectively making the 31-year-old Stanford alumnus a wanted fugitive internationally. Nonetheless, he assured his Twitter followers the same day that he was “making zero effort to hide”, while also pointing out that his name was not available on the international police organization’s website. He also said he “[goes] on walks and malls.”
All in all, just because Kwon maintains he’s not hiding from authorities as he believes he has not fallen foul of the law doesn’t imply there’s not another catastrophe coming his way sometime soon.
