From a cryptocurrency billionaire, Do Kwon is now globally wanted.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office said it had asked two crypto exchanges OKX and KuCoin to freeze about 3,313 bitcoins related to Kwon. According to the September 28 price, this bitcoin is worth about 62 million USD.
Kwon is the founder of Terraform Labs, the company behind the two cryptocurrencies terraUSD and luna. These two coins were worth around $60 billion before their crash in May, sending the global crypto industry into a rough patch to this day.
In late September, South Korean authorities announced Do Kwon had absconded. The prosecutor of this country contacted Interpol to issue a global arrest warrant for Kwon.
However, via Twitter, Do Kwon repeatedly asserted that he was not trying to run away. The 31-year-old businessman said he is still comfortable going to the supermarket, writing code in the living room. However, Kwon refused to specifically disclose his current position.
According to research from analytics platform CryptoQuant, Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) set up a digital wallet on September 15 and sent 3,310 bitcoins to KuCoin and OKX.
The Luna Foundation Guard is a non-profit organization promoting the Terra blockchain, created by Kwon’s company Terraform Labs.
Do Kwon again denied trying to spread bitcoin through KuCoin or OKX. He said he has never withdrawn money and has not used KuCoin or OKX since last year.
Following the news of the freeze, KuCoin said it was “ready to cooperate with global law enforcement agencies” to investigate the source of the suspected assets.
Meanwhile, an OKX spokesperson confirmed that they have received a request from the South Korean authorities and that they are “cooperating with the investigation”:
“OKX opposes all illegal transactions in the crypto industry. As the investigation is still ongoing, OKX is unable to comment further at this time.”
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