Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon was handed over to United States law enforcement by authorities in Montenegro after a months-long battle over where he would be extradited.
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said in a Dec. 31 X post that Kwon was in US custody and would face criminal charges in the case involving the collapse of Terra.
Kwon’s handover to the US occurred four days after the Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Božović approved the extradition, rejecting a petition from South Korea, despite Kwon holding citizenship and facing charges there.
Both the US and South Korea had filed charges against the Terraform Labs co-founder and some Terraform executives, but Kwon’s whereabouts were unknown until he was arrested in Montenegro in 2023.
South Korean court issues arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon
On Dec. 31, 2024, the Seoul Western District Court approved an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol for attempting to impose martial law in early December.
According to a Korea Herald report, Yoon, who was impeached and suspended from office after the attempt, is the first sitting South Korean president to face an arrest warrant granted by a court.
After Yoon failed to report for questioning for the third time, a joint investigative task force requested an arrest warrant for him.
Yoon was stripped of power on Dec. 14 when the country’s parliament voted to impeach him. He was replaced by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok as interim president.
Pro-crypto lawyer John Deaton offers to probe Operation Chokepoint 2.0
On Jan. 4, former US prosecutor and crypto advocate John Deaton offered to lead a probe for the incoming Trump administration into Operation Chokepoint 2.0, an alleged initiative that aimed to cut crypto companies out of the traditional banking system.
Deaton said in an X post that Operation Chokepoint 2.0 “creates a dangerous precedent where regulatory bodies can quietly suppress entire industries they disfavor” if left unchallenged.
Well-known for his efforts to support Ripple’s legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), he said he would “accept the task without salary.”
Deaton’s offer followed on the heels of a court order allowing crypto exchange Coinbase to obtain unredacted files from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to investigate their role in the unconfirmed operation.
China tightens crypto trade oversight with new forex rules
On Dec. 31, the South China Morning Post reported that the Chinese foreign exchange regulator had introduced foreign exchange rules that require the country’s banks to monitor and flag risky trades that involve crypto assets.
The report stated that mainland China’s new rules would make it harder for residents to purchase digital assets and use them for cross-border gambling, underground banks and illegal cross-border financial activities.
China’s regulators will also require that banks track the activities based on the identity of the institutions and individuals involved, the sources of their funds and the frequency of their trades.
