The infamous co-founder of Terraform Labs has reportedly lost his bid against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The latter is now allowed to seek records from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) that could shed more details on how the 31-year-old developer managed Luna Foundation Guard and whether he had a hand in last year’s LUNA/UST collapse. Numerous agencies, watchdogs, and prosecutors alleged Kwon was the main culprit of the multi-billion crash. He...
Read More »Crypto Exchange GDAC Halts Deposits and Withdawals Following $13 Million Hack
Hackers drained almost $13 million worth of digital assets from the South Korean cryptocurrency platform GDAC. This is the latest in a string of setbacks the industry went through. The Latest Victim The exchange’s team notified its users on April 9 that hackers exploited the Gdac Hot Wallet and transferred a significant amount of cryptocurrencies to an unidentified wallet. They stole over 60 BTC, 350.5 ETH, 10,000,000 WEMIX, and 220,000 USDT (which accounted for around 23%...
Read More »Crypto Layoffs Keep Piling up: Messari Dismisses 15% of its Headcount
Messari – a leading provider of blockchain research and data analysis based in South Korea – added its name to the long list of crypto-focused companies that axed their workforce due to the harsh macroeconomic environment. It laid off 15% of its staff, believing this was the right step for the long run. Ryan Selkis – Founder and CEO of Messari – announced the news on Twitter, asserting that the company will help departing employees with their transition to other...
Read More »Bitcoin ‘Kimchi Premium’ in South Korea Goes to Discount
South Korea’s “Kimchi Premium” – a metric showing crypto’s price difference in global exchanges and such located in the Asian nation – went into a discount territory for the first time since January 18. This indicates that buying digital assets, such as bitcoin, is cheaper on Korean platforms than on Binance or other leading players, usually meaning that local users’ interest has declined. Flipping to Discount The “Kimchi Premium” – a phenomenon bearing the name of a...
Read More »Former CEO of TMON Gets an Arrest Warrant for Allegedly Receiving LUNA Bribes (Report)
The South Korean authorities reportedly issued an arrest warrant to a former Chief Executive Officer of the e-commerce giant TMON. He supposedly accepted bribes in Terra (LUNA) worth billions of won to promote the infamous blockchain project. Terra Keeps Splashing the Water As reported by a local media outlet, an ex-boss of the Korean e-commerce company TMON was slapped with an arrest warrant due to his interaction with the collapsed cryptocurrency project Terraform Labs....
Read More »South Korean Authorities Searched for Do Kwon in Serbia (Report)
A group of South Korean officials reportedly arrived in Serbia last week to look for the infamous Do Kwon. The 31-year-old has been on the run since the collapse of his blockchain protocol Terra. The latter’s native token – LUNA – and algorithmic stablecoin – UST – plunged to essentially zero last year, affecting numerous investors and the entire cryptocurrency market. As covered by Bloomberg, a team of South Korean authorities, along with a senior Justice Ministry official,...
Read More »Korea’s FSC Orders Exchanges to Delist and Classify Crypto With Securities Properties
South Korea is looking to amp up regulations to prevent unfair trade in the industry. As such, the Financial Services Commission issued instructions to five major crypto exchanges in the country to delist and classify digital assets that have similar properties to that of securities. The implosion of the once-prominent Terra ecosystem tokens was the first domino to fall in an ensuing series of other high-profile collapses. The subsequent failure of hedge fund Three Arrows...
Read More »Bithumb Offices Raided as Legal Woes Pile up (Report)
More troubles for South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb brews as its offices were reportedly raided on Thursday. Authorities launched an investigation into potential price manipulation of a coin listed on the platform, according to a report by Yonhap. The token in question has not been revealed. Prosecutors said they are probing transactions linked to a specific person or entity allegedly manipulating the coin’s price to make a profit. In a statement, the Seoul District...
Read More »Bithumb’s “Real” Owner Faces Arrest Warrant on Embezzlement Charges
Multiple executives at the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb are now beleaguered by charges of embezzlement and market manipulation, according to the South Korean financial outlet InfoMax. Under these charges, an arrest warrant has been issued for Kang Jong-hyeon, who is thought to be the “actual owner of Bithumb. Bithumb Executives Under Fire On Wednesday, members of the legal community confirmed that Kang and two of Bithumb’s executives have been sentenced by...
Read More »Report: North Korea Has Made Off with More Than $1 Billion in Crypto
The top spy agency of South Korea stated its neighbor North Korea has stolen an estimated $1.5 trillion won worth of cryptocurrency funds over the past five years. This is equivalent to about $1.2 billion in USD. More than half of that money was stolen in the year 2022 alone. North Korea Is Still Stealing Crypto North Korea has long been in the habit of stealing digital currency and engaging in crypto hacks and related activities to garner the funds it needs to continue...
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