The South Korean who promised a financial revolution has ended up confessing a fraud of 40,000 million dollars. Do kwon, Terrausd and Luna creator, He declared himself guilty on August 12 in A Federal Court of New York for two positions: conspiracy to commit fraud of raw materials, values and electronic, and electronic fraud. The case exploded in 2022 with the collapse of its cryptocurrenciessold as stable. “What I did was wrong,” He admitted in Sala. As happened with Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX, the market digests the bill of an era of excesses.
In his statement, Do Kwon acknowledged having cheated investors by not revealing the role of a trading firm in Terrausd’s recovery. It was part of an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern District of New York that plans to request a maximum penalty of 12 years if it assumes its responsibility. Reuters remembers that Kwon was extradited from Montenegro at the end of 2024 and faced nine positions, including values fraud, electronic fraud and conspiracy to whiten capitals. The admission came almost three years after the collapse of the project.
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Unlike other stablcoins backed by real assets, Terrausd was based on an algorithm that interacts with Luna, its sister cryptocurrency. The system allowed to create or destroy tokens from one and the other to maintain parity with the dollar. When Terrausd fell from 1 dollarthey could be changed to the moon, which reduced the offer and, in theory, stabilized its value. All this happened within the call Terra protocolwhich executed these operations automatically. The model depended on the balance between supply, demand and market expectations.
The first alarm signal came in May 2021, when Terrausd fell below the dollar. According to prosecutors, Do Kwon said that the system had worked as planned: the algorithm had automatically restored parity. But, as he has recognized now, that version omitted a key detail. Financial Times explains thatActually, Kwon turned to a specialized trading firm that bought millions in Terrausd to hold its price. It was a deliberate and hidden operation that, according to the accusation, allowed to maintain the illusion that the system was solid.
A year after the first scare, the system did not endure. In May 2022, Terrausd lost parity again, this time irreversibly. The algorithmic mechanism collapsed: Moon’s mass creation, aimed at containing the fall, caused a spiral that The price of both tokens sank. The collapse devastated with about 40,000 million dollars in market value and affected thousands of retail and institutional investors. The loss of confidence was immediate. What was presented as a robust stablecoin became a symbol of the opposite.
The civil aspect of the case was resolved in April 2024, When a federal jury declared To Do Kwon and Terraft Labs responsible for fraud in a lawsuit filed by the SEC. The civil order imposed a sanction of 80 million dollars and permanent disqualification and interdiction measures, including the prohibition of making transactions with cryptoactive. In addition, Terraft agreed to pay 4,550 million in civil resolution. The company had already accepted the bankruptcy process, which conditions payments and leaves part of the compensation.
Kwon could spend up to 25 years in prisonbut if it complies with the prosecution, the effective sentence would be significantly lower. The agreement contemplates A maximum request of 12 yearsas long as you collaborate and recognize your guilt. Federal Judge Paul A. Engelmayer will issue a judgment on December 11, 2025. Reuters adds that The Prosecutor’s Office will not oppose Kwon requesting a transfer to another country after serving 50% of his conviction. In parallel, the authorities of South Korea maintain open charges that could be activated once their process ends in the United States.
Thousands of people, from small savers to institutional funds, were trapped in the fall of Terrausd and Luna. Since then, Terraft Labs accepted the bankruptcy procedure in the United States, under chapter 11, and advances in the liquidation plan. According to Reutersthe estimate of payments to those affected ranges between 184.5 and 442.2 million dollars, and the exact recoverable amount remains in review. As they are highly volatile assets, the current value is much lower than that they had in 2022. Refunds, if they arrive, aim to be partial and late.
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