- Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin denied all charges against him on his first day in court.
- Shin’s lawyer said his client had “nothing to do with” Terra’s collapse.
- South Korean authorities accuse him of fraud, embezzlement, breach of duty, and of violating the Capital Markets Act.
Happy Monday!
The trial against Terra co-founder Daniel Shin started in the Seoul Southern District Court today, according to South Korean news outlet Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation.
The prosecution has accused him of fraud, breach of duty, embezzlement, and of violating the South Korean Capital Markets Act. He has denied all charges.
Let’s dive into it.
Blaming it on Do Kwon
Daniel Shin “had nothing to do with” Terra’s collapse, the Terraform Labs co-founder’s legal counsel said on Shin’s first day in court today, MBC reports.
Terraform Labs was the company behind Terra, a blockchain that soared to a $60 billion market capitalisation before crashing in May 2022 when its native token and stablecoin, LUNA and UST, entered a death spiral.
Shin’s legal counsel told the court that Shin had broken off with fellow Terraform co-founder Do Kwon in 2020, and that Terra’s collapse was due to the Anchor protocol’s “unreasonable” management as well as “external attacks” carried out by Kwon, MBC reports as per Google translate.
Anchor was a Terra-based protocol that provided users a 20% yield on UST holdings.
Kwon is currently held in a Montenegrin prison cell after attempting to leave the country by using a fake Costa Rican passport.
South Korean and US authorities are both seeking his extradition.
Shin’s lawyer said Shin had voluntarily returned from Singapore to South Korea and actively cooperated with authorities in the Terra investigation.
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is up 0.4% in the last 24 hours and trading from $34,767.
- Ethereum gained 1.1% in the same period of time, and is currently priced at $1,817.
- Solana and Ripple rose by 6.8% and 5% respectively.
What we’re reading
- Michael Lewis says crypto haters ‘sell the hell out of the book’ on SBF — DL News
- Crypto hackers are changing their tactics as 2023 heist haul plunges — DL News
- See how Tether beat Circle in the stablecoin race — DL News
Tom Carreras is a Markets Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Reach out at tcarreras@dlnews.com