Apologizing for Terra's collapse, he adds: "I think the hardest thing about the current situation is having to contend with so much astronomical loss."
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Do Kwon has once again refused to reveal his current whereabouts — but has expressed remorse for those who were affected by the collapse of LUNA and UST.
The embattled Terraform Labs co-founder said he wouldn't disclose his location over fears for his personal safety — and questioned whether Interpol has actually issued a red notice that compels global law enforcement agencies to locate and arrest him.
Speaking to Laura Shin on the Unchained podcast, he stated Interpol is yet to declare him as a wanted man on its website — despite the fact that not all red notices are publicized. Shin added that she had reached out to Interpol twice for confirmation about his status, but got no reply.
Kwon also argued that it was inaccurate to ask whether he would return to South Korea to face an arrest warrant after Terra's collapse, because he hasn't lived there since the end of 2021. And when asked what he thought about the charges, he said:
"We are a little bit disappointed in the way that prosecutors are attempting to create new regulation through criminal enforcement proceedings, whereas that really should be in the job description of the legislators or the financial regulator."
Kwon went on to add that he hasn't actually seen a copy of the arrest warrant — and has learned about it through media reports. However, official documents released by South Korea have warned that his passport is being revoked.
The crypto entrepreneur went on to insist that he is cooperating with authorities in Seoul, and has replied to their requests for specific documents.
Shin went on to cite tweets where he said that he was making "zero effort to hide" — and noted that Singaporean police say he's currently not in the city-state. Kwon rejected claims that he initially headed to Singapore in anticipation of Terra collapsing, and added:
"The main reason I don't want to talk about my location to the media is because when the crash happened in May, there were lots of situations where personal security was threatened. For instance, people broke into my apartment building — even multiple cases where that was televised across my home in South Korea as well as my home in Singapore. Several of these people were reporters, and several of these people were regular people against whom I felt a fair degree of threats to personal security and privacy. It's not in the interests of 'being on the run' that I don't want to disclose where I live, it's just every time the location of where I live becomes known, it becomes almost impossible for me to live there."
This contradicts tweets where he appeared to taunt law enforcement agencies about his location — boasting that he was going to shopping malls, on walks, and meeting people in public spaces where some of his followers would see him.
Despite of all of that, Kwon maintain that he doesn't want guesswork as to the city or country where he is currently based, adding:
"These things are fairly easy to find. I have businesses, I have people that I meet. The easier I make it for people to figure out my location, the harder it is for me to continue regular life."
Kwon appeared to strike a conciliatory tone when asked about the "hubris and arrogance" of his tweets in the past.
"I think I got carried away with interacting with other people on Crypto Twitter. The industry lingo for this is called shitposting. I think in retrospect I should have held myself to a more stringent standard. Just because there are anonymous cartoon characters who are more liberal with the words that they're using doesn't mean that I should have followed sult."
He went on to suggest that this tweeting style was "largely for entertainment value" — and said it was fun to joke with other people on the social network.
"When I go back in time and I'm presented with a tweet I would have written a couple of years ago, it is quite cringe. People have told me to take them down, but I do think it's worthwhile just keeping them on there for recordkeeping and posterity purposes."
Kwon was also asked about some of the devastating stories that have emerged since Terra collapsed. Shin cited a man who had a malignant tumor and was given $50,000 in insurance money for therapy, but lost it all in Terra. She mentioned that many of those who had lost money had young children, with reports of one man killing himself after his $2 million LUNA investment tanked to just $1,000.
"Whatever issues existed with Terra's design, its weakness to respond to the cruelty of the markets, it's my responsibility and my responsibility alone … It's not easy — I think the hardest thing about the current situation is having to contend with so much astronomical loss. It's quite hard to put into words, but the scale of the financial and emotional and economic damage that happened here is not easy to live with."
When told he actually hadn't said sorry for what had happened in his answer, he added:
"I do apologize and I do own up to the full responsibility of that. The only thing we are attempting to do is that in the process of people dealing with this grief, there's been a lot of people making allegations like 'this was a fraud' or 'Do Kwon probably shorted UST' or 'there's theft or embezzlement going on'."
