Do Kwon, a crypto entrepreneur who created two virtual currencies that spectacularly melted down, prompting a market crisis in 2022, was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday, the New York Times reported. Kwon became a cautionary tale of crypto hubris when the digital currencies he designed — TerraUSD and Luna — lost all their value practically overnight. The crash caused a chain reaction that led to the collapse of a string of major crypto companies. Mr.

Do Kwon, the South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur behind two digital currencies that lost an estimated $40 billion in 2022, is set to be sentenced in New York federal court on Thursday for fraud and conspiracy, Reuters reported. Kwon, 34, who co-founded Singapore-based Terraform Labs and developed the TerraUSD and Luna currencies, previously pleaded guilty and admitted to misleading investors about a coin that was supposed to maintain a steady price during periods of crypto market volatility.

The head of the South Korean unit of the e-commerce company Coupang resigned on Wednesday, as the fallout from a data breach affecting nearly 34 million users of the online shopping site intensifies, the New York Times reported. Park Dae-jun, who became the sole chief executive of Coupang’s business in South Korea earlier this year, said in a statement released by the company that he was resigning to accept “grave responsibility” over the data leak, which was announced last month.

It was found that last year’s profitability in the construction industry fell to the lowest level in 10 years, Biz.Chosun.com reported. According to the report “Analysis of 2024 management performance of construction companies subject to external audits and marginal corporations,” published by the Construction & Economy Research Institute of Korea (CERIK) on the 28th, the net profit margin of construction corporations subject to external accounting audits is 0.8%. CERIK said that it is the first time since 2015 that the net profit margin has fallen into the 0% range.

Homeplus, which is undergoing corporate rehabilitation proceedings, conducted a public competitive bidding to find a company for acquisition and merger (M&A) but received no applicants, the Chosun Daily reported. According to the Seoul Rehabilitation Court and Homeplus on the 26th, no bids were submitted by 3 p.m. that day, the deadline for acquisition bids. Earlier, Harex Infotech, an AI and payment solutions company, and Snowmad, a real estate development firm, which had submitted letters of intent, also did not participate in the final bidding.

South Korea's ruling Democratic Party will propose a bill this week that would facilitate the country's investment in the U.S. under a deal that cuts tariffs on the country's exports, financial news service Money Today reported on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The Democratic Party agreed with the South Korean government to introduce the bill on November 26, it reported. No further details were immediately available. The two countries on November 14 announced the details of implementing the deal reached by their presidents in late October that would lower U.S.

The South Korean Financial Supervisory Service and creditor banks are working to select corporations that will undergo restructuring next year, Chosun Biz reported. With a slump in domestic demand and the trio of high inflation, high interest rates and a strong dollar, the number of corporations at risk of insolvency is expected to increase from a year earlier. According to the financial sector on the 14th, major creditor banks are conducting regular credit risk assessments of small and midsize corporations with credit exposure from financial institutions of less than 50 billion won.

Two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea's Lee Jae Myung met and announced they had resolved months of negotiations over tariffs and security issues, the two sides have yet to release any agreement on paper, Reuters reported. South Korean officials say the delay appears to centre on discussions over their request for Washington's blessing to build a nuclear-powered submarine, which Lee raised publicly when he met Trump on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific forum in South Korea last month.

E-commerce company WeMakePrice has been declared bankrupt. This comes 1 year and 4 months after it triggered a large-scale unpaid settlement crisis in July of last year and applied for corporate rehabilitation proceedings, the Chosun Daily reported. Seoul Rehabilitation Court’s Rehabilitation Division 3 (Chief Judge Kim Joon-young) finalized the decision to terminate WeMakePrice’s rehabilitation process on the 10th and declared bankruptcy.

South Korea's central bank has sounded the alarm on won-denominated stablecoins, warning private issuers lack the institutional trust required to maintain stable currency and urging traditional banks to take the lead instead, Decrypt.com reported. The Bank of Korea (BOK) released a report Monday outlining major risks associated with won-pegged stablecoins, comparing them to historical currency failures from America's mid-19th-century free-banking era to Korea's own Dangbaekjeon crisis under King Gojong.