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Top Crypto News: Do Kwon’s Extradition, Tesla Bombing & a $1M Scam Lawsuit
Key Insights
Do Kwon is back in the US, years after the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, and is facing some serious jail time.
Last week, someone loaded a Tesla cybertruck with explosives, eventually blasting the car to pieces outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
In other news, CertiK reported that the hacks and scams in December 2024 only took up $29 million—the lowest amount stolen throughout the year.
A man from California also sued three Asian banks over an alleged $1 million pig butchering scam, just amid reports that the US now holds a staggering 40% of the world's Bitcoin's hash power.
Here are some of the biggest updates from the Crypto world over the last week.
Do Kwon Is Back in the US
Terraform Lans co-founder Do Kwon, who was arrested in Montenegro in 2023 after attempting to travel with forged documents, was handed over to US law enforcement after months of back and forth between the US and his home country of South Korea.
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić stated in a 31 December post that Kwon was in US custody and would be sent to the country to face criminal proceedings.
The transfer happened four days after the extradition was approved, with Montenegrin Justice Minister Bojan Božović favoring Kwon's transfer to the United States and rejecting South Korea's request.
Do Kwon appeared before a US magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger on 2 January 2025, pleading "not guilty" to the charges.
Currently, Kwon is facing nine counts of various offenses, including securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering charges, and commodities fraud.
So far, Kwon’s case is similar to that of Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for his role in the collapse of the FTX exchange.
Explosion Right in Front of Donald Trump’s Hotel
Since last week, authorities have been looking into the Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
So far, they believe that the explosion was either caused by a bomb or by fireworks, as alleged by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Per accounts from Musk in a 1 January post, the rented vehicle was parked with explosives inside, loaded with camping fuel, gasoline tanks, and fireworks mortars.
The driver of the vehicle was allegedly killed in the explosion and hasn’t been identified yet.
However, seven other people were injured in the explosion as federal, state, and local police continued working around the clock for more clues as to whether the incident was an accident or an act of terrorism.
Interestingly, this happened following the death of at least 15 people when a suspect flying an ISIS flag crashed a Ford pickup truck into a group of people celebrating New Year's on New Orleans' Bourbon Street.
Crypto Hacks and Scams Totaled Only $29 Million in December
According to data from CertiK, December saw the lowest Crypto losses in 2024.
According to a 31 December post published on X, losses from scams and hacks saw a notable slowdown in the month.
CertiK noted that December 2024 only recorded $28.6 million in losses, as opposed to $63.8 million in November and $115.8 million in October.
The Crypto security company added that most of these losses were caused by hacks, with the most notable event being the $2.1 million hack of GemPad.
The second most serious incident saw a hacker steal $1 million worth of $FEG tokens from the FEG bridge contract.
According to the report, December's losses represented a 71% drop from November.
A Man From California Sued 3 Asian Banks Over $1M Pig Butchering Scam
A man from California has reportedly sued three banks from Asia for "failing to perform simple checks" that would have prevented him from being scammed of over $1 million in a pig-butchering scandal.
The defendant, Ken Liem, filed the case in California's district court on 31 December. His lawyers allege that in June 2023, their client was approached about a Bitcoin investment opportunity on LinkedIn.
The scammers alleged that they would invest on his behalf and were able to wring $1 million out of their victim before he caught on.
Liem's lawyers claim that the stolen funds first appeared in accounts at Singapore's DBS Bank, Hong Kong's Fubon Bank, and Chong Hing Bank.
The attorneys are therefore accusing the banks of not conducting appropriate Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering checks.
Liem's attorneys are seeking a jury trial and a minimum of $3 million in damages.
US now Holds Over 40% of Global Bitcoin Hashrate
It appears that Donald Trump's "Crypto capital" promises are coming to fruition, even before his inauguration.
Per reports, late 2024 saw two US-based mining pools, Foundry USA and MARA Pool, now account for more than 38.5% of all Bitcoin blocks mined.
This means that the US now accounts for more than 40% of the Bitcoin network's global hash rate, which is the total processing power that protects the Bitcoin protocol.
According to insights from TheMinerMag, Foundry USA increased its hash rate from 157 exahashes per second (EH/s) at the beginning of 2024 to almost 280 EH/s by the end of the year.
The pool now holds over 36.5% of the Bitcoin network's total hashrate and is now by far the largest mining pool by hashrate.
According to data from the Hashrate Index, MARA Pool presently controls around 32 EH/s, or 4.35% of the overall hash power.
However, even with the rise in processing power, the majority of the world's hash rate is still controlled by mining pools in China.
While all of the above is impressive and even great for the US economy, this concentration of Bitcoin's hash rate in one place is starting to raise concerns among industry executives.
Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information but will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.