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| Police officers escort Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon in Podgorica, capital of Montenegro, March 24. AP-Yonhap |
By Lee Min-hyung
Korean crypto investors' sentiment is growing that Do Kwon ― the founder of the now-defunct Terra-Luna ecosystem ― should be detained and punished in the United States.
Kwon was arrested in Montenegro last week, but his possible repatriation to Korea has not been confirmed, as U.S. and Singaporean authorities also filed suits against the scandal-tainted Luna coin developer.
The abrupt collapse last year of the once-red-hot cryptocurrency has incurred huge losses to a group of more than 200,000 investors in Korea alone. But the sense of public anger is escalating that Kwon should not be sent to his home country due to the country's reputation for relatively weak punishment for financial crimes.
A recent online vote also showed that Kwon should face punishment in the U.S. According to the vote posted on the nation's largest Luna victim community site with over 2,700 members, more than 70 percent wanted Kwon to face investigation and punishment in the U.S. Only 15 percent of respondents voted in favor of repatriating him to Korea.
"Kwon should be punished in the U.S. first and then sent to Korea, as I do not trust the Korean court's decision," a Luna investor said in a post.
In Korea, economic offenses face a maximum prison sentence of around 40 years, but in the U.S. economic and financial criminals can be sentenced to hundreds of years in prison.
Following Kwon's arrest, the recent rally of Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies came to a halt. The price of Bitcoin hit a low of around $16,600 earlier this year but recently extended a winning streak with a robust rally by topping the $28,000 mark last week.
The crypto rally was driven by growing hopes that Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies can serve as an alternative investment source amid the ongoing global banking crisis.
But after Kwon's arrest was reported on March 24, the momentum lost steam, with its value hovering around $27,000, according to data from market tracker CoinMarketCap.
The price of Ethereum also showed a similar pattern. Ethereum was traded at around $1,754 as of 4 p.m. Monday after hitting this year's high of more than $1,800 last week.
