A judge has granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permission to work with international authorities to question one of the co-founders of Terraform Labs. Court records indicate that District Judge Jed S. Rakoff approved the SEC’s request to ask for help from authorities in South Korea in regard to acquiring testimony from Daniel […]
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Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton says that a federal judge erred when rejecting a historic decision during his ruling in the Terra (LUNA) case. Deaton tells his 286,400 Twitter followers that the judge should have sided with Judge Analisa Torres’ ruling that Ripple Lab’s automated, open market sales of XRP do not count as securities. A […]
The post Pro-XRP Lawyer Says Federal Judge in Terra Case Who Rejected Favorable Ripple Ruling ‘Got It Wrong’ appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Terraform Labs recently appointed CEO, Chris Amani, held a Twitter Spaces with the purpose of separating the operations of Terraform Labs from Do Kwon’s personal affairs.
Terraform Labs faces a “big hill to climb” as the progress of its various projects in development are constantly being impeded by frequent accusations against Do Kwon, according to Terra’s new interim CEO Chris Amani.
During a July 20 Twitter Spaces, titled A Terra Community Talk, Amani joined several Terra employees to discuss the challenges ahead for Terra moving forward. This took place shortly after Amani was appointed as Terra’s new CEO, while the former CEO, Do Kwon, continues to battle legal issues.
He noted that the frequent allegations against Do Kwon, who is currently in a jail cell in Montenegro and facing possible extradition to South Korea or the United States, has shattered any momentum that Terra has been building recently.
“Everytime we would make a little progress there would be some accusation or something that would derail us”.
Cointelegraph reported on June 19 that Kwon was found guilty of attempting to leave Montenegro using a false Costa Rican passport. He was sentenced to four months in prison despite reportedly telling the court that he wasn’t aware the passport was allegedly forged.
Amani commented on Kwon's situation saying it is "incredibly hard" to watch what he is going through right now, expressing his hope that Kwon's name will be cleared so he can "come back and participate" as soon as possible.
In regard to Terra's current developments, Amani revealed there are “maybe 9” different projects at various levels of development to be released over the coming months.
He declared that no new tokens will be launched with any of these new developments, as it will be focusing on “driving utility” back to its native token, Luna (LUNA).
We have 3 projects on the shelf, close to complete, looking for teams to finish off and launch on Terra. If you have a team to take one and want to learn more, let @mc_ust know.
— Chris Amani (@fleece_cannon) July 20, 2023
Amani emphasized that it is going to be a “big hill to climb,” but believes it is not a unique situation within the cryptocurrency industry.
“This is not going to be easy rebuilding; I mean nothing is easy in crypto right now” he said.
He explained that the shortage of liquidity is due to decentralized finance (DeFi) applications having to compete with risk free rate of returns that are “fairly compelling right now.”
Related: Legal proceedings start for Terraform Labs co-founder in South Korea: Report
He further acknowledged that Terra currently faces difficulty competing with other layer one blockchain projects, as it “doesn’t even have a treasury of Luna."
“Despite the lack of activity in crypto, despite the bear market, it’s still incredibly competitive from a layer one perspective. There are still teams with very big treasuries that can pay developers a lot of money to come build on their blockchain.”
However, he claims that most employees have chosen to stay with the company, despite the controversies it has faced.
“We have been able to hold a large portion of the team that was here before the depeg” he stated.
Magazine: SEC reviews Ripple ruling, US bill seeks control over DeFi, and more: Hodler’s Digest, July 16-22
Bank of Italy is calling for closer regulator scrutiny of stablecoins, which they say “have not proved stable at all.”
Italy’s top banking authority has called for a “robust, risk-based” regulatory framework for stablecoins, which could help prevent a worst case scenario — a “run” on stablecoins.
The central bank’s recently released Markets, Infrastructures and Payment Systems report for June 2023 has called on regulators to apply the same financial conduct standards to stablecoin issuers in the industry.
#Bankitalia #26June Alessandra #Perrazzelli discussed about the evolving regulatory landscape for #DigitalAssets at @pointzeroforum Panel “State of Global Digital Asset Regulation: Navigating Opportunities in an Evolving Landscape”#PZF2023 #PointZeroForum @sif_sfi @elevandi pic.twitter.com/Jm0OBeifZh
— Banca d'Italia (@bancaditalia) June 26, 2023
The bank said the rise of cryptocurrencies, coupled with several “boom and bust cycles” in a largely unregulated environment has caused “significant consumer harm.”
Regulatory attention on stablecoin issuers in particular should be a priority because of its close connection to DeFi, the bank said:
“A robust, risk-based regulation of stablecoins ensuring the prevention of ‘runs’ on their issuers is a necessary condition to reduce the fragility of the DeFi ecosystem, given the prominent role of this asset class in decentralized finance.”
“It is crucial that policy interventions on stablecoins and DeFi are well synchronized since the diffusion of stablecoins [...] is likely to spur new waves of DeFi innovation and increase the interconnection between traditional and decentralized finance,” it added.
The Italian banking authority also noted that stablecoins “have not proved stable at all” — citing the most notable collapse of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin TerraClassicUSD (USTC) in May 2022.
The adoption of #DLT solutions, especially if featured by weak organizational structures, could undermine the financial system due to lack of controls, lack of specific rules as mitigation tools, interdependence among regulated and non-regulated entities. The fragmentation is…
— Banca d'Italia (@bancaditalia) June 27, 2023
The bank said the industry also needs to debunk “the decentralization illusion” by acknowledging that most decentralized protocols are operated by core stakeholders who can often “extract ownership benefits.”
“Such projects should be brought back to traditional, accountable business structures as a pre-condition for operating in the regulated financial sector,” the bank added.
Related: OpenAI’s ChatGPT reenters Italy after obliging transparency demands
The bank however stressed that it isn’t necessary to subject every crypto asset or activity to financial services regulation:
“Not all crypto activities and not all forms of crypto-assets need to be covered or should be covered by financial sector regulation, in particular where their issuance, trading and holding do not serve customers’ financial needs through a payment or investment function.”
Among the non-financial use cases enabled by blockchain are decentralized identification, real estate, supply chain, voting and carbon credits.
Italy’s central bank has also called for countries to cooperate and establish an international regulatory framework because the technology operates irrespective of nation state borders.
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
Swiss authorities have reportedly frozen $26 million worth of assets from Terraform Labs and its founder, former crypto billionaire Do Kwon. The assets frozen included Bitcoin (BTC), and was frozen from Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum, reports Korean outlet Digital Asset. Sygnum froze the assets after Swiss authorities received requests from the New York Attorney’s […]
The post $26,000,000 Worth of Do Kwon and Terraform Labs’ Assets Frozen by Swiss Police: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
On Monday, a Montenegro court sentenced the disgraced Terra (LUNA) founder Do Kwon to four months in prison for attempting to travel with a forged passport. Kwon was first arrested in late March after trying to board a flight to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a Costa Rican passport, which authorities claimed was forged. […]
The post Disgraced Terra (LUNA) Founder Do Kwon Sentenced to Four Months in Prison by Montenegro Court appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
The lawsuit, initially filed on May 9, alleges the firm and its CEO was involved in a price manipulation scheme tied to the TerraUSD stablecoin.
Algorithmic and high-frequency trading firm Jump Trading is seeking to have the class action lawsuit against the firm moved from Illinois to a Northern district court in California, arguing that it would significantly speed up legal proceedings.
The lawsuit was initially filed on May 9 by Taewoo Kim, individually and on behalf of others impacted by the collapse of the Terra/Luna ecosystem. Kim is represented by Selendy Gay and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP.
Jump Trading embroiled in controversy as lawsuit claims it manipulated TerraUSD's value. Accusations of violating regulations and unjust enrichment put the company under the legal microscope.
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 14, 2023
The suit alleges that Jump Trading and its CEO, Kanav Kariya, were involved in a price manipulation scheme tied to the infamous TerraUSD stablecoin, which allegedly resulted in $1.3 billion worth of profit for the company.
Additionally, the firm and Kariya were accused of violating Commodity Exchange and Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulations and of common law unjust enrichment.
In the latest motion, filed on June 9, the defendants argued that the choice to file the suit in Illinois was an “attempt at forum shopping,” as the main plaintiff is a New Jersey-based resident represented by law firms from New York and California.
The term “forum shopping” refers to the practice of selecting courts or jurisdictions that supposedly have the most favorable rules or laws that support the position of the plaintiff.
“There is no legally compelling connection to Illinois, and nearly all of the relevant witnesses and documents either are located outside Illinois or are just as easily accessed elsewhere,” the court doc reads.
The defendants added that the plaintiffs also have a simultaneous and relevant suit that has been ongoing in California for over a year, and as such, both cases should be consolidated or coordinated.
Related: Binance.US hires former SEC enforcement official amid lawsuit: Report
“This case is not the first — or even second or third — to be filed on these facts. Rather, multiple lead plaintiffs have been litigating these exact same events for nearly a year in the Northern District of California in Patterson v. Terraform Labs, Pte. Ltd.,” the defendants argued, adding:
“This case should be transferred to the Northern District of California for consolidation or coordination with Patterson.[...] This action is likely to move faster in the Northern District of California, which has a year head start.”
Cointelegraph has reached out to the plaintiffs for comment, and will update the article if they respond.
The TerraUSD/LUNA project collapsed in May 2022, wiping billions of dollars from the market.
The project’s founder Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March for allegedly using false travel documents. He is potentially on the hook to serve prison time in both the U.S. and South Korea.
Korean media reports that for years, Do Kwon had secretly been sponsoring a prominent Montenegrin politician using illegal funds. Two days ago, a Montenegro high court approved Do Kwon's bail request again, allowing for his release from prison. https://t.co/aNqYkKG70H
— FatMan (@FatManTerra) June 9, 2023
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom
Disgraced Terra (LUNA) founder Do Kwon reportedly relocated tens of millions of dollars worth of crypto away from a Luna Foundation Guard wallet after his arrest in March. South Korean prosecutors, who are trying to track down the missing trove of digital assets, say it’s likely Kwon either personally moved $29 million in crypto or […]
The post Terra Founder Do Kwon Allegedly Moved $29,000,000 in Crypto Away From Luna Foundation Guard After Arrest: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Embattled Terra (LUNA) founder Do Kwon is reportedly having his bail conditions appealed by Montenegrin prosecutors. According to a new document released by Montenegrin authorities, an appeal has been filed by the State Prosecutor’s Office against the decision to let Kwon and his associate Han Chang-joon pay 400,000 euros ($435,000) to be let out on […]
The post Terra (LUNA) Creator Do Kwon’s Bail Conditions Appealed by Prosecutors: Report appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Terraform founder Do Kwon will be released from jail but placed under police surveillance at a local residence, a Montenegrin court has decided. The trial against him and another Korean, on charges of travelling on false documents, opened on Thursday with both pleading not guilty. Court Grants Bail Request for Do Kwon, Puts Him Under […]