Bitcoin News and Finance
Terraform Labs and CEO Do Kwon Charged by SEC With Multibillion-Dollar Crypto Fraud Skip to main content

Terraform Labs and CEO Do Kwon Charged by SEC With Multibillion-Dollar Crypto Fraud

Terraform Labs and CEO Do Kwon Charged by SEC With Multibillion-Dollar Crypto Fraud

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Terraform Labs and its CEO, Do Hyeong Kwon, with fraud, alleging that Kwon and his company orchestrated “a multibillion-dollar crypto-asset securities fraud.” The securities watchdog insists that Kwon raised billions from investors by creating an “interconnected suite of crypto-asset securities,” many of which were involved in unregistered transactions.

SEC Charges Terra’s Do Kwon and Terraform Labs With Defrauding Investors

Nine months after the entire Terra blockchain ecosystem collapsed, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the Singaporean company Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. and the firm’s CEO, Do Kwon. The SEC detailed on Thursday that Terraform and Kwon raised billions from venture capitalists and created a suite of unregistered securities and mirrored assets that replicated the value of U.S. stocks. The government’s complaint also mentions the now-defunct UST algorithmic stablecoin.

The regulator stressed that both Terraform’s employees and Kwon marketed these unregistered securities to “earn a profit,” and detailed that Kwon “repeatedly claimed that the tokens would increase in value.” Regarding the algorithmic stablecoin UST, Kwon “allegedly misled investors about the stability of UST,” the SEC complaint notes. This is not the first time Terraform Labs had a tussle with the U.S. securities regulator, as the SEC filed an action against the company over the Mirror Protocol and its mirrored stock assets in 2021.

In 2022, a New York judge ordered Terraform Labs to comply with the SEC’s investigative subpoenas. The SEC now charges the company and Kwon with violating the registration and anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act and the Exchange Act. “We allege that Terraform and Do Kwon failed to provide the public with full, fair, and truthful disclosure as required for a host of crypto-asset securities, most notably for LUNA and Terra USD,” SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.

Gensler further added:

We also allege that they committed fraud by repeating false and misleading statements to build trust before causing devastating losses for investors.

The U.S. regulator’s charges against Terraform and Kwon follow the SEC’s enforcement actions against Kraken and its staking services. Additionally, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) told Paxos it could no longer mint the stablecoin BUSD while also issuing a consumer notice regarding BUSD. The SEC complaint filed against Kwon and Terraform was submitted to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Do Kwon was last active on Twitter during the first week of February 2023.

What do you think about the SEC’s charges against Do Kwon and Terraform Labs? Share your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory