The Ongoing Saga of Terraform Labs: Do Kwon’s Destiny Hinges on Montenegro, South Korea, and the United States.

US Prosecutors are determined to pursue the extradition of Do Kwon, the Co-founder of Terraform Labs, despite Montenegro’s High Court ruling that he should be handed over to South Korea to face charges related to the collapse of the $40 billion TerraUSD stablecoin in 2022.

Following Terra’s collapse, Kwon managed to evade South Korean authorities until his arrest in Montenegro, where he was caught attempting to travel with a fake passport. Kwon was charged alongside former Terra executive Han Chang-joon, who was extradited to South Korea in February.

Kwon is expected to remain in Montenegro, serving a four-month sentence for possessing false documents. According to Kwon’s Montenegrin attorney, he will likely be sent back to South Korea after completing his sentence.

However, some crypto lawyers closely following the case have raised concerns about Kwon’s extradition to South Korea. Terrence Yang, Managing Director at Swan Bitcoin and former counsel at Merrill Lynch, described the decision as a “travesty.” Yang pointed out that the US has successfully prosecuted individuals involved in major cryptocurrency exchange collapses, citing the case of Sam Bankman, the founder of FTX.

“The US probably has the highest number of victims in terms of both quantity and value. It seems absurd for the Montenegro court to extradite Do Kwon to South Korea, where he might be acquitted or face a ridiculously lenient sentence, compared to the United States,” said Yang.

Both the US and South Korea have requested Kwon’s extradition, and the decision on where he will be sent rests with the Montenegrin authorities.

Meanwhile, Sam Bankman Fried, the Co-founder of FTX, could potentially face decades in prison for fraud charges in New York.

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Crypto Regulations