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| Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon speaks during an interview with crypto media outlet Coinage in a video uploaded on YouTube, Tuesday. Screenshot from YouTube |
By Lee Min-hyung
Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, has shared his plan to cooperate with the ongoing investigation by the Korean prosecution, but declined to confirm when it will be, citing no charges have been brought against him over the collapse of the Terra-Luna cryptocurrencies.
Kwon has made no public appearances since the Terra stablecoin and its sister token plummeted in May, but appeared Tuesday in a video-taped interview with overseas crypto media outlet, Coinage.
As the once-red hot Terra ecosystem abruptly lost trust from investors around the globe, a group of Luna investors here sued Kwon and Daniel Shin, another co-founder of the company, for fraud.
In response, the prosecution has since launched an investigation into the incident and summoned officials from Terraform Labs for questioning. Last month, the joint investigation team also raided Shin's home and the headquarters of Korea's major crypto exchanges.
Kwon, however, did not confirm when he will return to Korea, nor did he refuse to do so.
"Right now, it's kind of hard to make that decision because we've not been in touch with investigators and they've never charged us," he said during the interview in Singapore. But he said he would cooperate with the investigation when the time comes, declining to comment on when exactly he will make his way to Seoul.
Last month, the Ministry of Justice approved the prosecution's request to place an overseas travel ban on Shin and a group of former and incumbent executives of Terraform Labs. If Kwon enters Korea, the prosecution will be notified immediately.
The investigation into the Luna scandal has not yet made any major progress, as Kwon's whereabouts have been unknown since the collapse of Terra and Luna back in mid-May. Given the scale of damage to investors, industry officials have called for the need to bring him to Korea to speed up the investigation.
Kwon looked calm while expressing his will to appear for questioning, but considering his latest remarks, he is unlikely to set foot in Korea soon unless the prosecution takes additional legal action against him.
The Terra leader also said that his bet on the algorithmic stablecoin failed, but that the project has little to do with any fraud.
Luna was once one of the world's seven most valuable cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Luna had attracted the global spotlight due to a lending program called Anchor which promised to offer annual percentage yields of 20 percent to investors.
While the Terra stablecoin and the Luna token had grabbed attention in the industry for the past few years before their sudden collapse, Kwon mocked Luna skeptics and reacted scornfully to any negative comments on the Terra-Luna ecosystem.
After the cryptocurrencies' values tumble to near-zero, the company and Kwon launched its second project by issuing a new Luna coin, called Luna 2.0, but it has failed to bounce back to the previous high of around $12. As of Tuesday, the new Luna cryptocurrency was being traded at around $2, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
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