The founder of Terraform Labs and creator of the Terra stablecoin, Do Kwon, has stated that he is "not on the run" or anything of that kind even as authorities in South Korea and the US are seeking to have a tête-à-tête with him regarding the collapse of his crypto-product.
Do Kwon claims to be cooperating with authorities as numerous investors, who had lost approximately $500 billion investing in his crypto tokens, accuse him of fraud. And yet, the Terra founder did not reveal his current location in his comments on Twitter.
"For any agency that has shown an interest in communicating, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide. We are in the process of defending ourselves in multiple jurisdictions [...] and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months," Do Kwon said.
His last known location was Singapore, where Do Kwon gave his most recent interview following the collapse of Terra and its sister token Luna and where he reportedly has a work permit that is due to expire in December.
However, the Singapore police force (SPF) said that Do Kwon was no longer in the country. The SPF said it will still assist the South Korean colleagues the best they can in searching for Do Kwon.
The two crypto tokens invented by 31-year-old Do Kwon collapsed one after another in May 2022 with their value dropping to zero, thus resulting in huge loses for its long-term investors. Its collapse sent shockwaves through the already-volatile crypto market, in no small part due to Terra being considered a stable coin.
Stable coins normally do not experience huge price fluctuations like other cryptocurrencies and instead pick one fiat currency and follow its exchange rate. Normally, these tokens are also backed up by a real value, like cash or stock reserves that are used to maintain the appropriate price on par with a chosen fiat currency.
However, TerraUSD tried to do so using software algorithm instead, which apparently failed at some point. The cause of the failure is yet to be determined, but investors, who filed lawsuits against Do Kwon in South Korea, believe that Terraform Labs had engaged in a fraud. The founder of the two cryptocurrencies, who is now wanted in his home country, South Korea, denies all accusations.