Crypto streamer arrested after failed Terra founder confrontation
A Korean cryptocurrency streamer who lost more than $2 million investing in Terra (LUNA) could lose his civil service job after attempting to confront Do Kwon at his home, reports the BBC.
In five years, the social media content creator known as Chancers amassed a small fortune through investing in crypto. However, he told the BBC that $2.4 million worth of his holdings were wiped out after the Terra DeFi system collapsed.
On May 12, Chancers travelled to the Terraform Labs founder’s home after stumbling across his address online. He was hoping to speak to Kwon about his plans for LUNA and broadcast the conversation on live streaming site AfreecaTV. Instead, he was greeted by Kwon’s wife who said that her crypto billionaire husband wasn’t home.
To make matters worse for Chancers it turns out he unwittingly broke the law by showing up uninvited. The police were told of his visit and Kwon’s wife was put under protective custody while a manhunt was carried out.
“In Korean culture, the problem itself is not important but rather the fact that it caused a scandal. I even had to apologize publicly as a sinner. I had no idea this would be so big. It’s very sad,” he said (via the BBC).
He now faces a potential fine and a criminal record which he says could put his job at risk.
“I lost a lot of money and now I’m being investigated by the police. I originally served as a civil servant in Korea — but if I am convicted of this case, I may not be able to return to the civil service again.”
Chancers handed himself in to police last week after his live stream of the event, broadcast to 100 people, exposed his identity to authorities. After surrendering himself, Chancers told the waiting press that he wanted an apology from Kwon on behalf of Terra investors.
“Kwon should publically apologize and announce plans (to compensate) using his assets or otherwise,” he told the media outside Seoul Seongdong Police Station (via The Korea Herald).
Crypto streamer worries for friends’ mental health after Terra collapse
According to local press, the collapse has had devastating effects on the mental health of Terra investors. The suicide euphemism “going to the Han River,” has begun to appear on cryptocurrency message boards. The term is often used in dark humour by investors who have experienced large losses.
“I know people around me who have given up on their life,” Chancer told journalists last week.
Indeed, the number of searches for “Mapo Bridge” on the South Korean search engine Naver more than doubled to 760 on Thursday.
In response, the Mapo police station announced it has strengthened its patrol around the area as a preventative measure.
In the fallout from the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, crypto billionaire Kwon has all but abandoned his algorithmic stablecoin UST. He has since proposed several recovery plans, the latest of which includes a hard fork that will separate LUNA from UST and distribute 400 million tokens to compensate the community.
Read more: Raoul Pal doesn’t want people to be angry after he appeared to hype Terra
Despite claiming he didn’t think it was a good idea, Kwon tweeted out the LUNA burn wallet over the weekend. Terra’s community of so-called ‘Luna-tics’ proceeded to burn millions of their tokens in a bid to prop up the crypto’s price.
In any case, Korean police last week said they were investigating Terraform Labs and local media reports suggest it will be the first case investigated by the newly-reinstated and beefed-up Financial and Securities Crime Joint Investigation Team.
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