S Korean Prosecutors Raid 15 Addresses, Including Major Crypto Exchanges, as Part of Terra Probe

Bithumb Exchange Legal South Korea Terra Upbit

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper

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Tim Alper is a British journalist and features writer who has worked at Cryptonews.com since 2018. He has written for media outlets such as the BBC, the Guardian, and Chosun Ilbo. He has also worked...

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June 26, 2023 06:55 EDT

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South Korean prosecutors have raided 15 locations in Seoul as part of their ongoing probe into the “Terra (LUNAC) incident” – and have seized documents and data from at least seven crypto exchanges, including the market-leading platforms Upbit and Bithumb.

Multiple media outlets, including Newsis, as well as YTN and the Munhwa Ilbo, explained that officers from the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Joint Financial and Securities Crime Investigation Team arrived at the locations at 5:30 PM KST (8:30 AM UTC) on July 20 to conduct “searches” and “seize” data.

Other than Upbit and Bithumb, no other trading platforms were mentioned by name in the reports. The nation’s third and fourth biggest exchanges by trading volume are Korbit and Coinone. iNews24 reported that some of the premises raided may have been private residences.

However, some media outlets reported that prosecutors also raided the offices of a company named Dunamu & Partners. This firm, as previously reported, was established in March 2018 as an offshoot of Dunamu, Upbit’s operator.

Dunamu & Partners bought 20 million LUNAC tokens “for investment purposes” in April 2018 at a price of around USD 0.12 per coin. On February 19, 2021, Dunamu & Partners sold its LUNA holdings for bitcoin (BTC), which the firm says it still owns and has not traded for fiat.

Dunamu & Partners claimed that had done nothing wrong, with its parent company Dunamu distancing itself from the matter.

The prosecution is yet to issue an official statement about the matter, but appears to have confirmed that it did conduct the searches. Media outlets such as YTN claimed to have been informed that officers were searching for “details” pertaining to the LUNAC and Terra network coin transactions of “people related to the case – including the Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon and the Terraform co-founder Shin Hyun-seung (also known as Daniel Shin).

Other media outlets added that officers were looking for Terra-related ”transaction data” during their searches.
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Learn more: 
– Prosecution ‘Investigating Still-Extant South Korean Terraform Subsidiary’, Exchanges Make Self-regulation Proposal
– Following Terra’s Lehman Moment, What’s Next for the Market?

– Mike Novogratz Now Admits That Terra’s Model Was Unsustainable
– Anonymous Pledges to Reveal ‘Do Kwon’s Entire History’ Since He Entered Crypto

– Do Kwon Says He’s No Fraudster and Has ‘Great Confidence’ in Terra 2.0
– Terraform Officials Banned from Leaving South Korea as Do Kwon ‘May Apply for Singaporean Citizenship’