LUNA’s Resurgence Amidst Legal Drama

Do Kwon’s legal situation remains uncertain, with potential implications for LUNA’s future.

A new iteration of the cryptocurrency LUNA unexpectedly rallied on Tuesday, increasing 77% in just two hours, just over two years after its previous price of over $80 plummeted to less than a cent, wiping out $60 billion in value and sparking a bear market across cryptocurrencies.

A rebooted version of the original native token of the defunct Terra ecosystem (presently referred to as Luna Classic or LUNC), LUNA, has not even come close to regaining its former position of dominance.

Legal Uncertainties Surrounding LUNA’s Future

However, it increased marginally from $0.83 to $1.47 today on marginally encouraging news regarding Terra’s founder, Do Kwon, who is presently incarcerated.

However, the gains have not been sustained; as of this writing, the price of LUNA has already declined to $1.12. Nonetheless, that represents an increase of 39% in the past twenty-four hours.

At present, Kwon is incarcerated in a Montenegrin correctional facility, where he is awaiting extradition to South Korea or the United States to answer criminal and civil allegations.

For the second time in a month, on Tuesday, an appeals court in Montenegro determined that a lower court’s authorization of Kwon’s extradition to the United States was invalidated due to “significant violations of the provisions of criminal procedure.”

The news likely provided a glimmer of optimism to any remaining emboldened LUNC heads that Kwon—and his long-defunct crypto empire—might still be able to evade legal repercussions. As per CoinGecko, LUNA experienced a 77% increase immediately after the legal update was released.

LUNC, or LUNA Classic, increased by 33% on Tuesday in response to the news. However, it could not maintain the gains and fell below the price before the surge before recovering marginally.

It has increased by 9% in the last twenty-four hours but is still down nearly 100% from its all-time high of over $119 in 2022.

Although improbable, fantasies regarding Kwon evading a tumultuous sequence of criminal and civil trials in connection with his development and management of LUNC and the algorithmic stablecoin UST that accompanied them may be justified. At this time, a subordinate Montenegrin court will reconsider its decision regarding Kwon’s extradition.

Moreover, should the tarnished crypto founder manage to evade extradition to the United States, he will be returned to South Korea to face criminal charges there.

However, pro-LUNC and LUNA maximalists on CryptoTwitter appeared uninterested in contemplating such somber realities.

One account stated, “Do Kwon will undoubtedly continue to contribute to the development of LUNC.”