Mark Carnegie, Australia’s highest-profile cryptocurrency investor, said a 31-year-old South Korean entrepreneur who started the now-collapsed Terraform Labs cryptocurrency business and may be on the run from authorities was “just another one of these super-bright scumbags” who did not understand business history.

Mr Carnegie, the founder of MHC Digital Finance, said he invested in Do Kwon’s luna cryptocurrency, which fell from $120 in April to 0.05¢. Simultaneous falls of another cryptocurrency connected to luna, terraUSD, contributed to a global rout in blockchain assets this year.