Also today, why celebrities targeted in a Tornado Cash dusting attack are breathing a little sigh of relief.
Today's headlines
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Arrest warrant issued for Do Kwon 🚨
South Korea has issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwon, the embattled founder of Terraform Labs. It comes four months after the Terra blockchain suffered a spectacular collapse — dragging LUNA and the UST stablecoin with it. According to Bloomberg, a court has also issued arrest warrants for five others on allegations that they violated South Korea's capital markets law. It's understood that all six are based in Singapore at present. Investigations into Terra's collapse have been taking place in the U.S. as well as South Korea, with UST's failure sparking newfound scrutiny of algorithmic stablecoins. Kwon was asked how he felt about the prospect of jail time in an interview with Coinage last month. He replied by saying: "Life is long."
Wright's lawyers give their arguments 👀
Tuesday was day two of Craig Wright v Hodlonaut. Lawyers representing Dr. Wright said they won't be providing new cryptographic proof that confirms he is Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin's inventor. Addressing Hodlonaut's tweets — which accused him of being a scammer — Dr. Wright's lawyers argued the hashtag #CraigWrightIsAFraud encouraged other people to engage in "toxic" attacks. The legal showdown in Oslo aims to determine whether Hodlonaut's tweets are protected by freedom of speech. If a judge rules in Hodlonaut's favor, this would affect Dr. Wright's ambition of collecting damages for libel during separate proceedings in London. Witnesses will testify throughout the week, with both Dr. Wright and Hodlonaut taking the stand.
U.S. (slightly) relaxes Tornado sanctions 🌪
The U.S. Treasury Department has announced that it's softening some of the rules surrounding its sanctions against Tornado Cash. Americans who initiated transactions before the sanctions were unveiled on Aug. 8 will be able to request a special license to complete withdrawals. However, extensive details will need to be provided about the transactions. There's also good news for celebrities who fell victim to dusting attacks, and were sent small amounts of ETH from Tornado Cash. The Treasury admitted that its regulations would technically apply to these "unsolicited and nominal" payments, but enforcement will not be prioritized. Americans remain prohibited from using Tornado Cash without permission.
Justin Trudeau attacks pro-Bitcoin rival 🇨🇦
Bitcoin enthusiast Pierre Poilievre has been named as Canada's newly elected leader of the Conservative Party — and is vowing to take on Justin Trudeau in the polls. Poilievre has previously accused the country's government of "ruining" the Canadian dollar — and has said the population should have the freedom to use alternatives like Bitcoin. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn't taking these criticisms lying down — and has attacked Poilievre's economic policies on Twitter. Vowing to call out "questionable, reckless economic ideas," he wrote: "Telling people they can opt out of inflation by investing in cryptocurrencies is not responsible leadership." The next Canadian federal election isn't due to take place until October 2025.
