In this episode of pplpod, we dismantle the chaotic saga of Do Kwon, the Stanford-educated software engineer whose cryptocurrency empire collapsed in spectacular fashion, triggering a global financial shockwave. We examine how Kwon co-founded Terraform Labs and engineered the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) and its sister token, Luna—projects that plummeted to "virtually zero" in May 2022, wiping out nearly $45 billion in market capitalization in just one week.

Beyond the financial mechanics, we track the international manhunt for the disgraced CEO, who fled to Montenegro and was eventually arrested at Podgorica Airport while attempting to travel to Dubai with falsified Costa Rican and Belgian documents. The episode details the complex legal tug-of-war regarding his extradition between South Korea and the U.S., concluding wi ...