South Korean prosecutors raided seven local crypto exchanges to investigate a fraud case linked to Terra’s implosion. The operation is to determine if the collapse of the Terra ecosystem was an intentional move done by Do Kwon, the founder & CEO of Terraform Labs.
- Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office raided Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone, and four other exchanges on Wednesday to probe a fraud case linked to the crash of Terraform Lab’s TerraUSD and Luna, according to the local media, Yonhap News Agency.
- The investigation team began seizing transaction records and other materials from the crypto companies at around 5:30 pm.
- Besides major exchanges, eight other places associated with the people with potential connections to the case were also raided by the prosecutors, the report noted.
- The probe will analyze the seized material and question witnesses to determine the size of the total damage of the fallout. Also, investigators will look into if Kwon and his team were responsible for “intentionally caus[ing]” the collapse, erasing $60B out of the crypto market within days.
- A popular take on the debacle, as promoted by security company Uppsala Security, is that the wallet behind the attack kicking off the run against UST and its de-pegging was “owned or controlled by Terraform Labs (TFL) or Luna Foundation Guard (LFG).”
- Uppsala Security CEO Kim Hyung urged investigators and regulators to look into the matter as centralized exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance are both implicated.
- Investigations on the Terraform Lab have been a growing urgency among authorities across jurisdictions. As reported by CryptoPotato earlier, South Korean Justice department and US agencies agreed to strengthen ties on combatting crypto crimes by sharing investigation data on high profiles cases such as Terra’s meltdown.