Crypto fugitive Do Kwon placed in Serbia by South Korean reports

CRYPTO fugitive Do Kwon’s location is becoming clearer following reports placing him in Serbia.

South Korean authorities believe the progenitor of the TerraUSD and Luna digital-asset ecosystem — which suffered a chaotic US$60 billion wipeout — is staying in the landlocked Balkan nation, the Chosun Ilbo paper said on Monday (Dec 12).

The report said South Korea is in the process of requesting cooperation from Serbia. The story cited an anonymous source at an investigative authority in the North Asian country. The Yonhap news agency said Kwon moved to Serbia last month, citing an unnamed official at the prosecutors’ office in Seoul.

The TerraUSD stablecoin was meant to have a constant US$1 value via a mix of algorithms and trader incentives involving sister token Luna. The edifice blew up in May, exacerbating a deep crypto-market rout and contributing to the downfall of a range of digital-asset outfits.

Kwon’s location has been unclear since South Korea in mid-September issued a warrant for his arrest on charges including breaches of capital-markets law. South Korea has said Kwon is the subject of an Interpol red notice.

The 31-year-old has denied wrongdoing and his Terraform Labs has argued capital-markets legislation doesn’t apply to crypto tokens.

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Neither Kwon nor a Terraform Labs spokesperson immediately replied to a request for comment.

Exactly what sparked the implosion of Kwon’s project remains something of a mystery. US authorities are probing possible links to Sam Bankman-Fried, whose FTX exchange and sister trading house Alameda Research spiralled into bankruptcy last month.

The New York Times has reported that US federal prosecutors are examining whether Bankman-Fried engaged in market manipulation by orchestrating trades that led to the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna. BLOOMBERG