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☆ Montenegro court jails 'cryptocurrency king' Do Kwon for four months -media
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A South Korean national, Kwon is the former CEO of South Korea-based Terraform Labs, the company behind the stablecoin TerraUSD that collapsed in May 2022, roiling cryptocurrency markets. Police said after arresting them they had found doctored Costa Rican passports, a separate set of Belgian passports, laptop computers and other devices in their luggage. The sentence follows a court hearing last week at which Do Kwon dropped his request for checking authenticity of the Costa Rican passports after Interpol's confirmation they were fake. South Korean and U.S. authorities have sought the extradition of Kwon and Han and the handover of the computers. Following Kwon's arrest, the U.S. District Court in Manhattan made public an eight-count indictment against him for securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy.

Persons: Do Kwon, Kwon, Han Chang, joon, Han, Daria Sito, Gareth Jones, Jason Neely Organizations: Korean, Labs, Police, Costa, U.S, Thomson Locations: SARAJEVO, Montenegro, U.S, South Korea, Dubai, Podgorica, Montenegro's, Rican, Costa Rican, Manhattan

June 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge considered whether the digital assets created by Terraform Labs were securities at a hearing on Thursday, a question central to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s fraud case against the company and its founder Do Kwon. Kwon and Terraform Labs were behind two cryptocurrencies whose implosion roiled crypto markets around the world last year. According to the SEC's complaint, Terraform Labs and Kwon misled investors about the stability of UST, and claimed that the firm's crypto tokens would increase in value. Terraform Labs and Kwon argue the case should be dismissed because its digital assets do not fit the definition of securities and the SEC lacks authority over the industry. The case is SEC v. Terraform Labs Pte Ltd. et al., No.

Persons: Kwon, Jed Rakoff, TerraUSD, Rakoff, shouldn’t, ”, “ We’re, Devon Staren, Jody Godoy, Lincoln Organizations: Terraform Labs, U.S . Securities, Exchange, U.S, U.S ., UST, SEC, Court, Southern District of, Thomson Locations: U.S, Manhattan, TerraUSD, Southern District, Southern District of New York, New York

☆ Crypto is dead: long live crypto!
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Felix Martin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

The end of near-zero interest rates, quantitative easing and pandemic-era fiscal stimulus has sent prices crashing back to earth. Rising real interest rates have proved to be kryptonite for crypto, as for so many other speculative assets. The normalisation of interest rates may have done for crypto in its most recent incarnation as a get-rich-quick scheme. The proposition that the circulation of private currencies might be economically beneficial has also been around for a while. Nevertheless, history shows that for privately issued currencies to attain critical mass it has typically required more than just the availability of viable alternatives.

Persons: cryptocurrencies, Gary Gensler, noncompliance, Balaji Srinivasan, marc ”, Paul Krugman, Friedrich Hayek’s, Money ”, James Steuart, ”, Crypto, Long, Peter Thal Larsen, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Coinbase, SEC, State, Brixton, counterparties, Central Bank of, Thomson Locations: Ithaca, Scottish, United States, Central Bank of Argentina

☆ Three Arrows Capital's NFTs fetch $10.9 mln at Sotheby's
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - A set of non-fungible tokens previously bought by bankrupt cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital sold for $10.9 million at Sotheby's in New York on Thursday, the auction house said. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a blockchain-based asset that represents ownership of a digital item such as an image, video or piece of text. It sold for $6.2 million on Thursday, Sotheby's said, having been bought by Three Arrows Capital for around $5.9 million in August 2021 according to DappRadar data. Singapore-based Three Arrows Capital was the first in a series of major crypto firms to go bankrupt in 2022, following the collapse of cryptocurrencies Luna and TerraUSD. Another seven of Three Arrows Capital's NFTs were already sold for $2.5 million at a Sotheby's auction in May.

Persons: Dmitri Cherniak, Sotheby's, Michael Bouhanna, cryptocurrencies Luna, NFTs, Elizabeth Howcroft, Nilutpal Timsina, Sonali Paul Organizations: Arrows Capital, Arrows, U.S, Three Arrows Capital, NFTs, Thomson Locations: New York, Sotheby's, Singapore

May 19 (Reuters) - Auction house Sotheby's announced Friday seven non-fungible tokens from bankrupt cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital sold for about $2.5 million. The auction was part of liquidating Three Arrows, according to a February memo from Teneo, one of the court-appointed liquidators. Singapore-based Three Arrows was the first major crypto firm to go bankrupt in 2022, brought down by the collapse of cryptocurrencies Luna and TerraUSD. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a blockchain-based asset that represents ownership of a digital item, such as an image, video or piece of text. The market for NFTs exploded in 2021, and auction houses including Sotheby’s and Christie’s joined the craze.

☆ Jump Trading Did Secret Deal to Prop Up TerraUSD Stablecoin, SEC Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Alexander Osipovich | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Jump Trading hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing in connection with TerraUSD or the coin’s May 2022 collapse. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg NewsU.S. high-speed trading giant Jump Trading entered a secret deal to prop up the TerraUSD cryptocurrency a year before the coin’s collapse, new court filings show, highlighting the ties between Chicago-based Jump and disgraced crypto mogul Do Kwon . The Securities and Exchange Commission posted the court filings late Friday as part of its fraud lawsuit against Mr. Kwon and his company, Terraform Labs. The filings confirm that Jump was the unnamed U.S. trading firm in the SEC’s lawsuit that made some $1 billion in profit through its dealings with Terraform Labs, according to the SEC.

☆ Montenegro court releases crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon on bail
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BELGRADE, May 12 (Reuters) - A court in Montenegro agreed on Friday to release Do Kwon, a cryptocurrency entrepreneur charged in the U.S. with a multibillion-dollar fraud, on bail of 400,000 euros ($440,320), pending a trial on local charges. Following his arrest in Montenegro in March, the U.S. District Court in Manhattan made public an eight-count indictment against Do Kwon for securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy. He was detained with Han Chang-joon, Terraform Labs' former finance officer, who will also be released on bail of 400,000 euros. "The court ... found that the possibility of losing the posted bail of 400,000 euros each, works sufficiently to dissuade them from any desire to flee," the statement said. Montenegrin police arrested Do Kwon and Chang-joon at Podgorica airport as they tried to board a flight to Dubai.

☆ Bitcoin rises slightly after key inflation data comes in better than feared
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bitcoin prices have been under pressure in 2022 after the collapse of algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD and subsequent bankruptcy filings from lender Celsius and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. Bitcoin rose about 2% to $28,174.29, according to Coin Metrics, after starting the week with a sharp drop. Investors grew optimistic after the CPI report showed the inflation rate eased on an annual basis to 4.9% in April, which was slightly less than what economists polled by Dow Jones expected. "When it comes to inflation data, bitcoin embraces its identity as a riskier asset," said Callie Cox, an analyst at investment company eToro. "Inflation is coming down, just as the Fed intended, and that's easing fears about the economy's future," she added.

☆ South Korean Prosecutor Calls for Crypto Entrepreneur Do Kwon to Face Charges in Home Country
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Jiyoung Sohn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon has been detained in Montenegro since March. Photo: stringer/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesSEOUL—The South Korean prosecutor leading the investigation into crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon said he believes extraditing him to his native country would be the best way to bring justice to victims of the TerraUSD cryptocurrency crash, which wiped out some $40 billion from digital currency markets. South Korea is vying with U.S. prosecutors to extradite Mr. Kwon from Montenegro, where he has been detained since March, and charge him in connection with the failed TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies. Mr. Kwon, who is a South Korean citizen, was the co-founder of Terraform Labs, the company behind the two failed cryptocurrencies.

☆ Do Kwon, Jailed Crypto CEO, Rejects SEC Fraud Allegations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Alexander Osipovich | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro last month. Photo: boris pejovic/ShutterstockLawyers for crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon asked a judge to throw out a U.S. regulator’s lawsuit accusing him of fraud in connection with last year’s $40 billion collapse of the TerraUSD and Luna cryptocurrencies. In a Friday evening court filing, Mr. Kwon’s lawyers said the Securities and Exchange Commission exceeded its authority when it sued him and his company, Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd., and failed to prove that they had defrauded U.S. investors.

☆ Crypto stablecoins might need limits to avoid disruptions to financial stability, warns Bank of England
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Regulators may need to introduce limits on the use of stablecoins in payments to prevent potential threats to financial stability, an official at the Bank of England warned Monday. Stablecoins are cryptocurrency tokens that aim to mirror the value of traditional assets such as fiat currencies. Such assets could include deposits at the Bank of England "or very highly liquid securities," he added. The Bank of England said in February that it was "likely" Britain would need a central bank digital currency if current trends around the decline in cash use continue. The Bank of England, Treasury and industry are still debating concerns over how such currencies would be implemented, such as the privacy of people transacting with them and implications for financial stability.

☆ U.S., South Korea Vie Over Extradition of Crypto Fugitive Do Kwon
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( James Fanelli | Jiyoung Sohn | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Police officers escorting Do Kwon, the creator of the failed TerraUSD stablecoin, in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica on Friday. The U.S. and South Korea are both seeking to extradite captured crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon from Montenegro, authorities in the tiny European nation said this week, setting up competing bids to prosecute him over criminal charges tied to the collapse of his TerraUSD stablecoin. Legal experts said South Korea may hold the upper hand because it is party to an extradition treaty with Montenegro, but diplomacy and previous instances of the Balkan state turning over fugitives to the U.S. could also factor into where Mr. Kwon ends up.

☆ A key recession indicator suggests the Fed may slash rates soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

There's another bond market signal flashing and it could mean the Fed's about to step in. The Fed raised short-term interest rates by a quarter percentage point as expected today, with market watchers expecting one more increase this year and three more in 2019. But there are other bond market signs, too, and the recent rally in bonds at the shorter-term end of the Treasury curve may just be the indicator with the most troubling track record. In effect, the bond market is telling us that the Fed could be on the brink of making a policy pivot as the economy falters. Investors are shifting focus back to the Fed's thinking on interest rates, with a PCE inflation update due Friday.

Bankman-Fried is expected to be arraigned on the new indictment on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan federal court. The new indictment said Bankman-Fried ordered the $40 million cryptocurrency payment to a private wallet from Alameda's main trading account, to persuade Chinese government authorities to unfreeze Alameda accounts with more than $1 billion of cryptocurrency. Prosecutors said the Alameda accounts had been frozen as part of an investigation into an unnamed Alameda counterparty, and Bankman-Fried's prior efforts to lobby Chinese officials to lift the freeze were unsuccessful. They also said Bankman-Fried around November 2021 authorized a transfer of tens of millions of dollars of additional cryptocurrency to "complete" the bribe. Concerns that Bankman-Fried might tamper with witnesses prompted Kaplan to threaten jailing him unless tighter restrictions could be worked out.

☆ S.Korea, US seeking extradition of crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon -Montenegro
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PODGORICA, March 29 (Reuters) - South Korea and the U.S. are seeking the extradition of Do Kwon, an international fugitive accused of a multibillion-dollar fraud, and another suspect arrested in Montenegro last week, the Montenegrin Justice Minister Marko Kovac said on Wednesday. Do Kwon, a South Korean national, is a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and former CEO of South Korea-based Terraform Labs, the company behind the stablecoin TerraUSD that collapsed in May 2022 and roiled cryptocurrency markets. A U.S. indictment announced last week charged Do Kwon, who co-founded Terraform Labs and developed the TerraUSD and Luna currencies, with two counts each of securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy. South Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for him last September. Kovac said the South Korean and U.S. extradition requests also called for the handover of the computers.

☆ Here's why recent moves by the SEC and CFTC may be just the start of crypto's regulatory troubles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Both the SEC and the CFTC have taken action against the crypto industry in the last few weeks. He added: "At the end of the day industry participants are searching for regulatory clarity, which has not yet been achieved." "Compliance and regulatory efforts are expensive, but necessary, the personnel will be almost as important as tech people," Yang told Insider. Markets could face more volatility following a crackdown because crypto prices are often sensitive to regulatory news. This, however, would require a widespread effort and coordination between financial regulators, industry participants, and legislators.

☆ US prosecutors charge crypto Terra founder Do Kwon with fraud following his Montenegro arrest
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

US fraud prosecutors charged Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon hours after his arrest in Montenegro. Kwon created two cryptocurrencies TerraUSD and its sister affiliate Luna that lost $40B last year. Prosecutors at the US attorney's office in New York have slapped an eight-count indictment against Kwon, including securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and conspiracy, according to a Reuters report. The criminal case comes after the US Securities and Exchange Commission charged Kwon and Terraform Labs with alleged fraud last month. The collapse of his Singapore-based Terraform Labs and that of the TerraUSD stablecoin sparked a broader crypto sell-off and wreaked havoc in the digital asset sector.

☆ Suspected Crypto Fugitive Arrested in Montenegro
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Alexander Osipovich | Bojan Pancevski | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Do Kwon is co-founder and chief executive of Terraform Labs. A person suspected of being Do Kwon, creator of the failed TerraUSD stablecoin, has been arrested in Montenegro after months of being in hiding, the interior minister of the Balkan country said Thursday. Montenegro Interior Minister Filip Adzic said on Twitter that the suspect was detained in the airport of the country’s capital of Podgorica with false documents, and that the local authorities were awaiting official confirmation of his identity.

Seoul/Atlanta CNN —Interpol says a man arrested in Montenegro is Kwon Do-hyeong, also known as Do Kwon, the disgraced founder of a collapsed crypto company who is wanted in South Korea and the United States on fraud and other charges. Kwon, a South Korean national, founded the blockchain platform behind the TerraUSD stablecoin and its sister coin Luna. Kwon’s identity was confirmed through a fingerprint match, Interpol’s national central bureau in Seoul told CNN on Friday. Seoul prosecutors told CNN in December that the crypto entrepreneur was believed to be in Serbia, where he was in hiding after leaving Singapore via Dubai. Kwon has been charged with fraud and breaches of South Korea’s capital markets law.

☆ A person suspected to be crypto developer Do Kwon arrested in Montenegro months after the collapse of TerraUSD
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A person suspected of being Do Kwon, creator of the now-collapsed TerraUSD stablecoin, has been arrested in Montenegro, a country official said Thursday. The country's interior minister said the suspect was arrested at the airport with falsified documents. Authorities have been looking for months for Kwon since the failure of his Singapore-based Terraform Labs ecosystem and the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin wreaked havoc in the crypto market. Police in Montenegro detained a person suspected to be Do Kwon at the Podgorica airport, Montenegro Interior Minister Filip Adzic said on Twitter. South Korea, where Kwon is from, issued an arrest warrant for Kwon in September for for alleged capital markets law violations.

☆ Montenegro police arrest suspected former CEO of Terraform labs - interior minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PODGORICA/SEOUL, March 23 (Reuters) - Police in Montenegro have detained a person thought to be Do Kwon, an international fugitive accused of defrauding investors in a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency scheme, the country's interior minister said on Thursday. "The person is suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean national Do Kwon, a co-founder and CEO of the Singapore-based Terraform Labs," Filip Adzic, the Montenegrin interior minister wrote on Twitter. loadingSouth Korean police said a suspect thought to be Do Kwon and another person thought to be an individual named Han Chang-joon had been arrested in Montenegro. In February, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Kwon and Terraform Labs in Manhattan federal court, accusing them of defrauding investors in what the regulator deemed a multibillion-dollar scheme. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating the 2022 collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin and had questioned former team members of Terraform Labs, which was behind the stablecoin.

March 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge declined to delay the $1.3 billion sale of crypto lender Voyager Digital to Binance.US, saying Voyager customers should not be forced to wait out a challenge by the Department of Justice that is unlikely to succeed. The government can "can step in at any time" if it believes illegal transactions are happening, but has not presented any evidence that Voyager's crypto transactions are illegal, Wiles said. They argued that the protections could rubber stamp crypto transactions that might be illegal under U.S. securities laws. Binance.US has agreed to pay $20 million in cash to Voyager, and take on crypto assets deposited by Voyager customers. Reporting by Dietrich Knauth in New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. Justice Department probes collapse of TerraUSD stablecoin - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is investigating last year’s collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Southern District of New York (SDNY) have questioned former team members of the company behind the stablecoin, the report said. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office for the SDNY declined to comment. Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Terraform founder Do Kwon with defrauding investors in what the regulator deemed a multibillion-dollar scheme. Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Luc Cohen and Ananya Mariam Rajesh; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Justice Department Probes Collapse of Do Kwon’s TerraUSD Stablecoin
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Alexander Osipovich | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Justice Department is investigating last year’s collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin, adding the risk of U.S. criminal charges to the pressure on its creator, South Korean crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon, people familiar with the matter said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Southern District of New York have questioned former team members of Mr. Kwon’s company, Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd., in recent weeks and sought to interview others, the people said. The FBI and SDNY are both parts of the Justice Department, and SDNY often takes the lead in high-profile prosecutions of financial crimes.

☆ What the failures of Signature, SVB and Silvergate mean for the crypto sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In this article BTC.CM= Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTA man entering Signature Bank in New York City on March 12, 2023. ReutersA lot of crypto's problems in the last year originated in the stablecoin sector, beginning with TerraUSD's collapse last May. Now that it is clear that SVB depositors will be made whole, Carter tells CNBC that he expects USDC to trade at par. The Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN) and Signature's Signet were real-time payment platforms that crypto customers considered core offerings. Meanwhile, Circle has already publicly said that it is shifting is assets to BNY Mellon now that Signature bank is closing.

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