South Korea Reportedly Freezes Do Kwon's Crypto Worth USD 40 Million

South Korea Reportedly Freezes Do Kwon's Crypto Worth USD 40 Million

South Korean authorities have reportedly frozen USD 40 million in crypto assets, including bitcoin, allegedly belonging to Luna founder Do Kwon. However, Kwon denied that any funds of his had been frozen. "I don’t even use Kucoin and Okex, have no time to trade, and no funds have been frozen," he insisted.

Prosecutors Claim to Have Frozen Do Kwon’s Crypto Assets

South Korean prosecutors claim to have frozen nearly USD 40 million in crypto assets allegedly belonging to Terraform Labs co-founder Kwon Do-Hyeong (also known as Do Kwon). Colin Wu of the Korean publication News1 tweeted on Wednesday:

"South Korean prosecutors have reportedly frozen USD 39.66 million in crypto assets owned by Do Kwon on two exchanges, including BTC." Do Kwon and LFG previously deny trying to transfer their 3,313 BTC after being issued an arrest warrant?"

Kucoin and Okx, two cryptocurrency exchanges, have frozen the coins. Both the trading platforms have agreed to freeze Do Kwon’s crypto at the request of the prosecution, the publication has reported.

South Korean prosecutors revealed last month that they were seeking to freeze 3,313 bitcoins tied to Kwon that were transferred to Kucoin and Okx from a wallet allegedly linked to Luna Foundation Guard (LFG). However, the allegation was denied, insisting that LFG "hasn’t created any new wallets or moved BTC or other tokens held since May 2022."

Following the news of the prosecutors freezing USD 39.66 million in crypto belonging to him, Kwon took to Twitter to deny that the frozen funds belong to him. "I don’t get the motivation behind spreading this falsehood—muscle flexing? but to what end?" The Luna founder tweeted on Tuesday, adding:

"Once again, I don’t even use Kucoin and Okex, have no time to trade, and no funds have been frozen. I don’t know whose funds they’ve frozen but good for them. I hope they use it for good."

A South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Kwon on Sept. 14. He is accused of fraud after the collapse of the cryptocurrency Luna (now called Luna Classic (LUNC)) and stablecoin TerraUSD (UST). Interpol has issued a Red Notice for him. "A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement 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."

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 recently that “he is making zero effort to hide."