Terra’s Do Kwon ‘living in Serbia’ say reports
Man allegedly behind multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency collapse thought to have fled to Balkans
Do Kwon, the the co-founder of Terra Labs, and the man accused of being behind one of the largest cryptocurrency collapses and potential frauds in history, is thought to now be living in Serbia.
According to a report from Chosun Media, South Korean authorities received a tip informing them that Do Kwon is now living in the Balkans.
An official told the Korean news outlet: "Recently, we obtained intelligence that CEO Kwon was in Serbia, and it was found to be true."
The report also revealed that the South Korean Ministry of Finance “is in the process of requesting cooperation from the Serbian government.”
Terra Labs is the parent company behind the UST stablecoin and Luna cryptocurrency.
Both projects collapsed in May, having enjoyed substantial growth in 2021 and the first months of 2022,. After UST lost its peg with the US dollar, confidence in the stablecoin evaporated. More than $17bn in value was wiped off its market capitalisation in less than a week.
Luna, since rebranded as Luna Classic, consequently suffered a similar rout, losing over $31bn in value in the same timeframe.
One of the first in a slew of prominent cryptocurrency crises in 2022, the collapse led to losses worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the wider sector.
In the aftermath, Kwon was accused of soliciting unregistered securities and of misleading investors about their viability. In September, a South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Kwon and five others, alleging that he had violated capital markets laws. Interpol also issued a red notice for the 31-year-old.
Despite this, Kwon may prove to be safe in Serbia. The Balkan nation does not have a bilateral extradition treaty with South Korea. However, South Korea does have a multilateral extradition treaty with the Council of Europe, to which Serbia is a signatory.
