Felix Ng
Hacktivist group Anonymous has pledged to “make sure” Terra co-founder Do Kwon is “brought to justice as soon as possible” in regard to the collapse of the Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD (UST) ecosystems in May.
On Sunday, a video purportedly coming from the Anonymous hacker group rehashed a laundry list of Kwon’s alleged wrongdoings, including cashing out $80 million each month from LUNA and UST prior to its collapse, as well as his role in the fall of stable coin Basis Cash, for which Do Kwon allegedly co-created under the pseudonym “Rick Sanchez” in late 2020:
“Do Kwon, if you are listening, sadly, there is nothing that can be done to reverse the damage that you have done. At this point, the only thing that we can do is hold you accountable and make sure that you are brought to justice as soon as possible.”
The hacker group said it would be looking into Do Kwon’s actions since he entered the crypto space to expose his alleged crimes.
“Anonymous is looking into Do Kwon’s entire history since he entered the crypto space to see what we can learn and bring to light,” the group stated.
“There is no doubt that there are many more crimes to be discovered in your trail of destruction.”
The hacker group also criticized Kwon for his “arrogant tactics” in trolling competitors and critics and “acting like he would never fail.”
Originating in 2003 on 4chan, Anonymous is a decentralized international activist collective known for orchestrating cyber attacks against government institutions, agencies, private corporations and even the Church of Scientology.
In June 2021, the same YouTube channel took aim at Tesla CEO Elon Musk for allegedly “destroying lives” using his clout and influence on Twitter to play with the crypto markets. The video has around 3.4 million views as of Monday.
It is worth noting that there are multiple YouTube channels that either claim to be affiliated with the hacker group Anonymous. However, there is a general consensus that there is no official YouTube channel for the group, given its inherent decentralized and anonymous nature.
Mixed reactions from the community
Commenters of the YouTube video and the community on Twitter appeared to be broadly supportive of the hacker group’s pledge to go after Kwon, with one commenter calling Anonymous the “Robinhood of today.”
However, the video message garnered more skepticism on the r/CryptoCurrency subreddit, with users criticizing the hacker group for issuing an empty threat against Kwon and providing no new information to the public, with one commenter saying:
“Anonymous is so teen bop now [...] This anon video is so non-threatening it's almost bizarre.”
While another said, “would expect them to have uncovered something but its nothing more than, well nothing.”
It appears that, for now, Kwon will likely have bigger, more tangible threats to worry about.
Terraform Labs, for which Do Kwon is the co-founder, is currently under multiple investigations from the South Korean authorities, including the alleged embezzlement of Bitcoin (BTC) from the company’s treasury.
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Prashant Jha
Swiss National Bank Deputy Head Thomas Moser talked to Cointelegraph editor Aaron Wood and discussed the ongoing trends in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), stablecoins and regulations during the recently concluded European Blockchain Convention 2022.
Moser talked about the innovation and adoption of private stablecoins and central banks’ plans regarding CBDC launches, saying both could co-exist. He said that the function of CBDCs would be very basic and that private stablecoin issuers could add services on top of them to meet retail customers’ needs.
When asked about the recent collapse of Terra’s TerraUSD (UST) and its subsequent impact on regulations, Moser said it could have a lasting impact on regulators.
He added that regulators may be forced to favor centralized stablecoins over decentralized ones, although not every decentralized stablecoin is like UST. He said:
“My fear is [...] that people will throw all decentralized stable currency in the same kind of category, which is not true, you know, so there’s a danger. I think that regulation will favor centralized stablecoins.”
When asked about developments on the regulations front, Moser hinted that it could take time. He cited the example of internet regulations from the 1990s, where regulators took the time to come up with new rules instead of implementing the existing telephone regulations.
Moser said that if current financial regulations are implemented in the crypto industry, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem would cease to exist. He explained:
“If you just take the existing regulation and put it on crypto, then DeFi will disappear because you will only have centralized entities that you can regulate with the current regulation. For DeFi, where there is no single entity to be held accountable for, which is really just smart contracts interacting, you need a different type of regulation.”
Switzerland’s central bank is among the select few countries that have begun piloting their national CBDCs, carrying out wholesale CBDC testing in January. Later that month, the Swiss National Bank published a report based on its trials and suggested that the risks outweigh the benefits.
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Zhiyuan Sun
For Maurice Mureau, CEO of crypto investment fund operator Hodl, there's "not a lot left" to invest in anymore. With soaring inflation, bonds are no go, real estate is getting more difficult but there is one asset class that's (unsurprisingly) catching the fund manager's attention — cryptocurrencies. During the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona this week, Cointelegraph editor Aaron Wood sat down with Mureau, who gave his insight on the outlook of the digital assets investment landscape.
"It's just like the end of the 90s with the internet bubble, so you're still early in the space," said Mureau. "A very solid use case for crypto is becoming apparent in the gaming industry, where people invest time that you can earn from it, and that's all arranged by the blockchain." He reiterated that there would be only 21 million Bitcoin in existence with no more printing. Therefore, alluding to hyperinflation in Turkey and Argentina, Mureau said that central banks can't print more of the digital currency. "So that, for me, makes for a very safe hedge. Thirty percent volatility in asset prices can be bad, but not if you lose 70% on your local currency's purchasing power each year."
When asked about his advice to new crypto investors, Mureau explained for institutional investors, who are typically risk-averse about protecting their capital, that anywhere between 1% to 5% would be an ideal exposure target. However, he suggested that retail investors, especially those who are young, can easily go beyond that target as there will be ample future income to supplement the portfolio. Currently, digital assets represent as little as 0.12% of all financial assets outstanding. "So if it goes from 2% to 4%, which is more than 10x from now, that means you've got a bit of a mature model. If you times the original number by 12, you're at the level of gold."
Of course, institutional investors typically have access to much more in-depth sources of information. But when asked about what retail investors can do to hone in their research, Mureau said:
"First, on-chain analysis is very important, because you can see who actually owns the coins. Suppose you see that 90% of the coins are owned by three individuals who are tied to the project, then you know it's a bit scammy."
He went on: "There are also loads of companies like ours, where they just write reports and put them on the website. Other elements Mureau recommended investors research are use cases, such as staking opportunity, social media presence and inquiring about its community. "This might be a challenge, but it's similar to the internet's early days. Ultimately, the market will shake out those without meaningful traction and are just using crypto as a bandwagon."
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This Daily Dose was brought to you by Cointelegraph.
