South Korea Moves to Freeze USD 67 Million Bitcoin Linked to Do Kwon

South Korea Moves to Freeze USD 67 Million Bitcoin Linked to Do Kwon

South Korean prosecutors are seeking to freeze 3313 bitcoins valued at USD 67 million from two cryptocurrency exchanges allegedly linked to Luna founder Do Kwon. The coins were moved soon after a South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for the Terraform Labs co-founder. Luna Foundation Guard has denied transferring the coins.

Crypto Exchanges Asked to Freeze Bitcoin

South Korean authorities have reportedly asked cryptocurrency exchanges Kucoin and Okx to freeze 3,313 Bitcoins allegedly tied to Terraform Labs co-founder Kwon Do-Hyung, also known as Do Kwon. The coins were transferred to the trading platforms soon after a warrant was issued for Kwon’s arrest in South Korea.

On Tuesday, an official at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office confirmed to Bloomberg that requests have been sent to the two cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze the 3,313 BTC.

The coins were transferred to the trading platforms from a wallet allegedly linked to Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) that was created on Sept. 15, as reported by the crypto researcher Cryptoquant to the publication:

"Cryptoquant specified new bitcoin addresses owned by LFG based on transaction patterns, adjacent flows, and material non-public information."

However, Luna Foundation Guard denied the allegation on Tuesday evening. The group tweeted its bitcoin address, adding: "LFG hasn’t created any new wallets or moved BTC or other tokens held by LFG since May 2022."

Do Kwon Says: "I’m Making Zero Effort to Hide"

The whereabouts of the Luna Founder are currently unknown. He was believed to be in Singapore. But the Singapore police said earlier this month that he is not in the city-state. Kwon has maintained that he is not "on the run," tweeting on Monday:

"I’m making zero effort to hide. I go on walks and to malls."

A South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Kwon on September 14. He is accused of violating the capital markets law after the collapse of the Luna (now called Luna Classic (LUNC)) and stablecoin terrausd (UST). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in South Korea is reportedly planning to revoke his passport.

Interpol has issued a Red Notice for the Terraform Labs co-founder. "A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement authorities worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action," Interpol’s website details, adding that "Red Notices are issued for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence."