South Korea has ordered Do Kwon to surrender his passport, or risk having it revoked, as the East Asian nation escalates actions against the crypto entrepreneur whose blockchain collapse wiped out investors’ $40 billion earlier this year .
The South Korean government has given Kwon 14 days to comply with the new order, a statement posted on its website on Thursday. The injunction follows Interpol last month issued a red notice against the crypto entrepreneur, asking law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and arrest him.
Kwon’s current whereabouts are unknown, but he keeps his followers updated on his life via Twitter.
On Wednesday, he refuted claims that his cryptocurrency had been frozen after media reports said South Korean prosecutors had escalated actions against him.
Korean media outlet News1 reported that prosecutors had frozen $39.6 million in crypto assets linked to Terraform Labs founder and CEO. The report was bolstered by CoinDesk, a popular crypto-focused news outlet.
In response, Kwon labeled the news story “falsehood”, reiterating again that he does not use KuCoin and OkEx. “No time to trade, no funds are frozen,” he said. “I don’t know whose money they have frozen, but good for them, I hope they use it for good,” he added.
The collapse of Terra cryptocurrency (Luna) and the so-called stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) in May wiped out investors’ $40 billion, sparking an uproar that led prosecutors to launch investigations into Kwon and his colleagues.
Kwon has previously said that he is not trying to hide from authority and is not on the run, a characterization that South Korean prosecutors have refuted.