Montenegrin official plans to extradite Do Kwon to the United States: Report
source link: https://cointelegraph.com/news/montenegro-extradition-do-kwon-united-states-report
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Montenegrin official plans to extradite Do Kwon to the United States: Report
The Terraform Labs co-founder had been awaiting extradition to either the U.S. or South Korea after being arrested and charged in Montenegro.
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Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon will reportedly be extradited to the United States rather than South Korea to face criminal charges.
According to a Dec. 7 Wall Street Journal report citing people familiar with the matter, Justice Minister Andrej Milović in Montenegro plans to grant U.S. officials’ request for extradition. Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March and sentenced to four months in prison for using falsified travel documents. He has also been charged in the U.S. and South Korea for his alleged role in the collapse of Terraform Labs.
Milović reportedly said the announcement would be made public “in a timely manner.” If extradited to the U.S., Kwon faces eight charges, including commodities fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud and engage in market manipulation related to his time at Terra. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Kwon with “defrauding investors in crypto schemes” in February.
Related: Jury in Terraform Labs case shouldn’t decide whether crypto is a security — SEC
The collapse of Terraform Labs in May 2022 was one of the major events kicking off a cryptocurrency market downturn. TerraUSD (UST) depegged from the U.S. dollar, and many firms filed for bankruptcy, including Voyager Digital, BlockFi, Celsius Network and FTX.
Before his arrest in Montenegro, Kwon’s whereabouts had been largely unknown, with many speculating the Terraform Labs co-founder had been based in Singapore. Though he will reportedly face officials in the United States first, some legal experts haven’t ruled out that Kwon could still be charged in South Korea as well. He has denied committing fraud.
Magazine: Terra collapsed because it used hubris for collateral — Knifefight
Phoenix seals $380M deal with WhatsMiner for green Bitcoin mining
Phoenix Group is acquiring hydro cooling mining equipment from WhatsMiner worth over $136 million, with the option of an additional $246-million purchase.
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United Arab Emirates firm Phoenix Group has disclosed a new purchase of hardware equipment from WhatsMiner, aimed at expanding its portfolio of hydro cooling rigs. According to an announcement on Dec. 7, the $380-million deal represents WhatsMiner’s largest order in two years.
Under the agreement, Phoenix received mining equipment valued at $136 million, with an additional option worth $246 million available. WhatsMiner’s line of hydro cooling equipment was released in 2022, with current prices ranging from $1,008 to $2,484, according to the company’s website.
WhatsMiner’s hydro cooling hardware uses a closed-loop water system, preserving the volume and quality of water inside pipes. According to the company, the system offers more efficient heat transfer since water is a more effective heat conductor than air or oil. The benefits of this system include a reduction in operational costs and a minimized environmental impact, the company claims.
Since 2022, Phoenix has been the exclusive distributor of WhatsMiner equipment. This new collaboration, according to Phoenix, is a crucial step in establishing high-performance computing (HPC) data centers. It’s unclear where the equipment will be deployed since Phoenix has mining facilities not only in the UAE but also in Canada and the United States.
WhatsMiner is a brand owned by MicroBT, founded by Zuoxing Yang in 2016, a former employee of Bitmain and one of the designers behind its Antminer S9. In October, WhatsMiner released its latest mining rigs with hydro, immersion and air-cooling systems.
Phoenix is not only an exclusive distributor of WhatsMiner hardware but also Bitmain’s official Middle East distributor. The company debuted trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on Dec. 5, with its stock price opening at 2.25 UAE dirhams ($0.60), soaring over 50% from its initial public offering (IPO) of 1.50 dirhams ($0.41). Phoenix IPO subscriptions exceeded the offer by 33 times, with 907,323,529 shares sold for 1.3 billion dirhams ($371 million).
Crypto mining companies have been facing tough times due to rising energy costs and lower Bitcoin prices since early 2022. Mining firm Canaan, for instance, recently raised capital due to a sharp decline in revenue.
Magazine: Bitcoin is on a collision course with ‘Net Zero’ promises
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