Do Kwon, the man behind cryptocurrency wipe-out in South Korea, insists he is not hiding

The Seoul prosecutors’ office said on Monday that it had called on Interpol to issue a Red Notice against Do Kwon early last week. The office has accused Kwon and five others of crimes, including breaches of capital-market laws related to the wipe-out of currencies he created.

In a tweet on Monday, Kwon said members of Crypto Twitter had likely seen him walking on the street or around shopping malls over the “past couple of weeks”. However, he did not mention the city or country he is in.

Kwon told his more than a million followers that he had not seen his name on Interpol’s list of individuals to “locate and provincially arrest pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action”. Though he admitted that not all names are made public.

“I’m making zero effort to hide,” Kwon wrote.

Kwon is rumoured to have shifted to Singapore after the collapse of Terraform Lab, its TerraUSD algorithmic stablecoin and sister token Luna. Both coins imploded in May, sparking huge losses in crypto markets.

However, a September 17 report from Reuters suggested he may no longer be in Singapore. South Koreans are generally not allowed dual citizenship, though it is unclear if Kwon holds more than one country’s passport.

South Korean financial authorities began investigating Kwon, Terra and other company employees in July by raiding offices of crypto exchanges like Gopax, Coinone, Upbit, Bithumb, and Korbit. The investigation reportedly led to a South Korean court later issuing an arrest warrant for Kwon and five others connected to Terra and requesting a Red Notice from Interpol.

South Korea has no extradition agreement with Singapore and Interpol can only request local law-enforcement authorities to detain Kwon if he is located.