Interpol issues red notice for crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon

Interpol has issued a red notice for a cryptocurrency entrepreneur linked to May’s market wipe-out, days after he denied being “on the run”.

Do Kwon, co-founder and chief executive officer of Terraform Labs, works on his laptop in the company's office in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday, April 14, 2022. Picture: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg

Authorities are tracking down a well known South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur after international police organisation Interpol issued a “red notice” for the blockchain start-up co-founder.

Law enforcement agencies worldwide are looking for CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs Kwon Do-hyung, as he faces charges in South Korea related to the $US40 billion crash of cryptocurrencies he created.

Better known as Do Kwon, he was responsible for the creation of the TerraUSD algorithmic stablecoin and its accompanying token Luna.

Luna notoriously skyrocketed in value before plummeting to practically zero in the first weeks of May this year, sparking a major crash that wiped more than $US1 trillion off the cryptocurrency market.

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The crypto market suffered a major crash in May 2022. Picture: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg

Now, South Korean authorities have issued a warrant for his arrest after accusing him and five others of crimes including breaches of capital-market law, Bloomberg reports.

A red notice has since been issued as South Korean prosecutors call on the assistance of law enforcement from around the globe to determine his location, after he left the country for Singapore.

The notice against him comes after the entrepreneur denied claims that he was “on the run” and “not co-operating” with authorities.

Tbh havent gone running in a while, need to cut some calories https://t.co/SP9VtS5ob2

— Do Kwon 🌕 (@stablekwon) September 17, 2022

“I am not ‘on the run’ or anything similar – for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full co-operation and we don’t have anything to hide,” he posted to Twitter.

Kwon has remained tight-lipped on his whereabouts while he “defends” himself in “multiple jurisdictions”.

“We have held ourselves to an extremely high bar of integrity, and look forward to clarifying the truth over the next few months,” he said.