Also today, both the SEC and Ripple are demanding a summary judgment in the long-running case over whether XRP is a security.
Today's headlines
But first — subscribe to our newsletter.
Listen to the CoinMarketRecap podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts
Do Kwon 'clearly on the run' 🚨
South Korea has asked Interpol to issue a red notice against Do Kwon — with prosecutors claiming he is "clearly on the run." Prosecutors in Seoul have alleged that he is failing to cooperate with an investigation into Terra's demise, which caused investors to lose tens of billions of dollars. Interpol allows police forces globally to cooperate with each other, and a red notice would involve asking law enforcement agencies around the world "to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action." This, when combined with his passport being revoked, would make it exceptionally difficult for Kwon to travel internationally. Kwon's current whereabouts are unknown.
$160m stolen in Wintermute hack 💸
The crypto market maker Wintermute has been hacked — with $160 million stolen from its DeFi operations. Evgeny Gaevoy, the company's founder and CEO, has stressed that its over-the-counter and centralized finance services are not affected, adding: "We are solvent with twice over that amount in equity left." Gaevoy went on to warn that "there will be a disruption in our services today and potentially for the next few days." Overall, 90 different types of cryptoassets were taken but in relatively small amounts, he explained. Gaevoy went on to add that Wintermute would like to treat this as a white hat attack — a hack that isn't performed for financial gain — and the person responsible is being urged to get in touch.
Does U.S. have jurisdiction for Ethereum? 👀
The SEC has claimed the U.S. has jurisdiction for all activity that takes place on the Ethereum blockchain. The comment was buried in the 69th paragraph of a lawsuit filed against crypto influencer Ian Balina, who is accused of promoting an ICO without telling fans he was being paid to do so. All of this relates to a project called Sparkster, which raised $30 million from 4,000 investors by selling SPRK tokens. The SEC's facing a backlash over a paragraph in the court filing that says, because there are more Ethereum nodes in the U.S. than any other country, transactions related to the case took place in America. One Crypto Twitter user described the SEC's argument as a "supermassive black hole sized bad take."
SEC v Ripple breakthrough? 😱
Both the SEC and Ripple are demanding a summary judgment in the long-running case over whether XRP is a security. If the judge files in the SEC's favor, it could mean that Ripple's sale of XRP tokens violated American securities laws. But a win for Ripple could set a crucial precedent for other crypto businesses that have found themselves in a similar position. A number of investors reacted furiously to the SEC's lawsuit when it was filed in December 2020, which caused the value of XRP to crash dramatically. It also sent shockwaves through the crypto industry as a number of exchanges moved to delist the token, meaning it was unavailable to customers. XRP outperformed other major cryptocurrencies on Tuesday.
