Terra cofounder Daniel Shin targeted for arrest again in South Korea's crypto crackdown

• South Korean prosecutors are doubling down on efforts to arrest Terraform Labs cofounder Daniel Shin.
• Do Kwon, who developed collapsed crypto TerraUSD with Shin, faces fraud charges in the US.

South Korean prosecutors are doubling down on their efforts to arrest Terraform Labs cofounder Daniel Shin, after his fellow developer Do Kwan was charged with fraud by US authorities.

After failing in their first attempt to get court approval to arrest Shin in December, the Seoul prosecutors are renewing their efforts to obtain a warrant on fraud and other charges, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Alongside Do Kwon, Shin helped develop the TerraUSD stablecoin and its free-floating sister token Luna. Last year, TerraUSD lost its dollar peg, which led to the collapse of the Terraform Labs ecosystem and wiped out $60 billion in a broader crypto market selloff.

Authorities want to try Shin on charges related to the collapsed crypto project, including fraud and breach of duty. Their first arrest warrent request, which also covered seven others, was knocked back because the judge saw little flight risk, CoinDesk reported.

Shin's lawyers have previously argued that the cofounder hasn't been involved in Terraform Labs since he stepped away in 2020.

Last week, Kwon was detained in Montenegro after being on the run from an arrest warrant issued by South Korean authorities. Hours after his arrest, he was charged by US prosecutors and now faces an eight-count indictment.

South Korea's authorities are cracking down on fraud in the cryptocurrency industry as its government gears up to regulate the country's cryptocurrency industry and has been tightening its oversight of fraud in the digital currency space.