1 yr after $11M LUNC bets; Do Kwon needed, funds paid, hedge caught on FTX

Roughly one yr prior, on Mar. 14, 2022, cryptocurrency dealer GiganticRebirth (GCR) invited the then co-founder of CEO of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, in a $10 million guess that the value of Terra Luna (LUNC) can be decrease than its then value of $92.4 per token one yr later. The blockchain govt accepted the provide, the second within the sequence after the day prior, when cryptocurrency dealer Algod offered a $1 million guess that LUNC can be decrease than $88 per token on Mar. 13, 2023, to which Kwon additionally accepted, leading to two bets price $11 million and prize cash pool of $22 million .

The funds, which totaled $22 million from all individuals, had been held in escrow by blockchain character Cobie on their Ethereum deal with. Cobie claimed on the time, a sizzling pockets was given to individuals “on my cell phone whereas i used to be in the course of africa, when i awoke there was $22m deposited.”

“i did not need 22m on a cell tent whereas I used to be residing in a tent amongst lions lmao.”

As told by Cobie and substantiated by blockchain knowledge, the blockchain character paid out the bets from the new pockets in April 2022, shortly after the $40 billion LUNC and accompanying algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD (USTC) ecosystem imploded, with LUNC buying and selling at fractional decimal values near zero. Nevertheless, Cobie additionally acknowledged in Dec. 2022: 

“I truly paid out the guess shortly after Luna went to 0, after which purchased sufficient Luna to hedge in case it someway went again to $88. However I misplaced my hedge (custodied in FTX) so if Luna goes to $88 within the subsequent 3 months I’m fucked”

Because the guess was lively till mid-March of 2023, Cobie was required to carry collateral regardless of LUNC’s collapse, because the funds had been paid out early, and situations might differ at settlement. On the time of publication, LUNC is at present buying and selling at $0.000124 per token.

Final Nov. 2022, cryptocurrency trade FTX, then third-largest on the earth by quantity, filed for chapter over allegations of misappropriating customers’ funds and left the deposits of over 1 million collectors frozen. On Apr. 4, 2022, Cobie transferred the prize cash and principal, price $22 million in stablecoins, to winners GCR and Algod by way of FTX. The next movement of funds is unclear.

On Sept. 26, 2022, Interpol issued a pink discover arrest warrant for Do Kwon per the request of South Korean prosecutors over accusations of fraud referring to Terra Luna’s collapse. The previous blockchain govt is reportedly hiding in Serbia, which doesn’t have an extradition settlement with South Korea. Except for being out $11 million from the bets, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Division of Justice reportedly started probing Terra Luna’s collapse on Mar. 14, 2023. One month prior, the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee charged Terraform Labs and former CEO Do Kwon with “defrauding buyers in crypto schemes.”