thedefiant.io
Do Kwon, the founder of the defunct algorithmic stablecoin protocol Terra, is set to serve 15 years behind bars.
Terra’s $40 billion implosion is considered one of the first dominoes to fall, leading to the bear market and FTX collapse in 2022, and to intense regulatory scrutiny of the crypto industry from the United States in 2023.
LUNA, now $LUNC, soared from a $325 million market capitalization in January 2021 to $41 billion by April 2022, before collapsing to near-zero in May of that year.
News broke last week that the Department of Justice would be seeking a sentence of 12 years in prison for Kwon, but this afternoon, Do was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with the latter half to be served in his native South Korea.
Kwon pleaded guilty to fraud charges in August 2025, in a criminal case that has taken three years to conclude.