New episode of Do Kwon saga

Terra co-founder Do Kwon, wanted by South Korean authorities, seems to live in a digital-era James Bond movie. The businessman, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, reacted via Twitter to Interpol issuing a Red Notice on him. Kwon told his followers that he calmly writes code in his living room, “making zero effort to hide.” Active on social media while facing potential arrest and prosecution in South Korea, Kwon showed his location as Singapore on his Twitter account at the time of publication.

Meanwhile, South Korean authorities have requested crypto exchange OKX and Kucoin to freeze 3,313 Bitcoin (BTC) reportedly tied to Do Kwon. Reportedly, he created a new wallet under the name of Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) on Sept. 15, just a day after a Korean court issued an arrest warrant against the fugitive crypto founder. The movement of BTC from the LFG wallet raised many eyebrows, as it contradicts Kwon‘s early claims of having used all the BTC in the LFG’s reserves to defend the peg of TerraUSD — since renamed TerraUSD Classic.

However, Terraform Labs claims that South Korea’s case against its co-founder has become political, alleging that prosecutors expanded the definition of a security in response to public pressure. “We believe, as do most in industry, that Luna Classic is not, and has never been, a security, despite any changes in interpretation that Korean financial officials may have recently adopted,” Terraform’s spokesperson said told the Wall Street Journal last week. The company also believes the case to be “a failure to uphold basic rights guaranteed under Korean law.”

Another blow for the SEC in the Ripple case

Ripple Labs scored another victory in its continuing legal battle with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 29, as United States District Court Judge Analisa Torres ruled to release the documents written by former SEC Corporation Finance Division Director William Hinman. The documents predominantly relate to a speech Hinman delivered at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in June 2018 and could make evidence of Hinman stating that Ether (ETH) was not a security. Judge Torres’ decision overruled SEC objections to releasing the documents following District Court Judge Sarah Netburn’s order declaring that the emails and drafts of the speech were not protected by deliberative process privilege, as the SEC has claimed.

Russia aims to use CBDC for international settlements with China

Russia is reportedly planning to use the digital rouble for mutual settlements with China by next year. The digital rouble is currently being tested for bank settlements and is expected to be completed by early next year. Anatoly Aksakov, head of the finance committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament, admitted that the geo-political crisis has limited Russia’s accessibility to the international trade market. This is why they have been actively working for alternate modes of payment and trade settlements, and national digital currency seems to be the primary choice at the moment.

UAE Ministry of Economy opens up its headquarters in the Metaverse

The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Economy has announced a new headquarters located where anyone in the world can visit — the Metaverse. The headquarters will feature a multiple-story building, each serving a different purpose. Visitors will be able to take a ticket, which will prompt a “customer happiness center employee” to join the Metaverse and interact with the visitor. Visitors to the virtual headquarters will be able to sign legally binding documents, which eliminates the need for signatories to visit one of their physical locations in order to provide their signatures.

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