"It is difficult to see LUNC as a financial investment product regulated by The Capital Markets Act," reads a Google-translated version of the ruling by the Seoul Southern District Court. The court's decision was issued regarding the prosecutor's appeal to confiscate property and arrest Terraform Labs CEO and co-founder Hyun-seong Shin (aka Daniel Shin), who was charged with a violation of the Capital Markets Act.
The Korean court's judgment that LUNC is not a security was made on February 16, but only reported today by a local news outlet Ilyo Shinmun. The court has earlier ruled it on November 15, but used then generally more cautious language, saying that "there is room for dispute in legal principles" and "it is questionable whether the Capital Market Act can be applied."
The prosecutors in Daniel Shin’s case have now requested a judgment from Korea’s Supreme Court, seeking to invalidate the verdict of a lower district court. The appeal was submitted first on March 20 and then on April 14, but the Supreme Court is yet to rule definitively on the matter.
In a February lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its CEO Do Kwon, the US Securities and Exchange Commission claimed that all assets within the Terra ecosystem were unregistered securities, UST stablecoin, LUNA, wrapped Luna, Mirror Protocol’s MIR token, and its synthetic mAssets.
On March 23, Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica, while trying to fly to Dubai using a fake Costa Rican passport. Both Korea and the United States requested the extradition of a crypto fugitive.
