A Montenegro court has ruled that Terraforms Labs co-founder Do Kwon should be extradited to the United States rather than to his home country of South Korea. In the United States, Do Kwon will stand trial on charges of crypto fraud.

In 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon and Terraform Labs of multibillion-dollar fraud. The regulator claims that Kwon deceived investors regarding the stability of TerraUSD and the Luna crypto asset. In May 2022, TerraUSD lost its peg to the US dollar, and as a result, investor losses amounted to about $40 billion.

In March 2023, Kwon was detained at the Montenegro airport with fake documents. A few months later, Kwon was released on bail of 400,000 euros. Since his arrest, Do Kwon has been in Montenegro and denies the charges against him.

In January, the SEC agreed to delay the start of the Terraform Labs trial until Montenegrin authorities hand over the project's founder to American authorities. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ordered the trial to be rescheduled from Jan. 29 to March 25 without further delay, even if Kwon is not extradited to the United States.

Previously, Do Kwon's legal team successfully challenged the original decision to extradite him. However, given the recent court decision, Montenegrin authorities are now confident that the legal requirements for Kwon's extradition have been met.