The cryptocurrency circle is once again in turmoil! The CEO of a South Korean crypto company was stabbed multiple times by victims..

In recent years, the cryptocurrency space has seemingly become a hotbed of controversy, as too many people enter this realm with the mindset of making quick money and exploiting others. Many projects have had impure intentions from the very beginning, and countless investors have unknowingly fallen into scams, losing their hard-earned money. Therefore, investors and project parties often find themselves in a hostile standoff.

A recent incident has precisely corroborated this viewpoint.

On August 28, the CEO of the South Korean virtual asset custody company Haru Invest, Hugo Hyungsoo Lee, appeared in court as scheduled, only to be suddenly attacked with a knife by a 51-year-old bystander. He was rushed to the hospital and is now out of danger.

It is reported that the company is suspected of misappropriating approximately $826 million in digital assets from over 16,000 clients and was detained and prosecuted by the South Korean prosecutors for fraud in February of this year.

As the saying goes, "Every grievance has its source; every debt has its owner," all of this stems from cryptocurrency fraud cases.

To fully understand the background of this attack, one must first discuss a cryptocurrency fraud case.

Haru Invest is a virtual asset custody service company based in South Korea. According to available information, the company developed well in its early stages, remaining quite active from March 2020 to June 2023, at one point boasting around 16,000 users.

Outwardly, Haru Invest has always touted itself as a risk-free, high-yield investment platform, but in reality, it has adhered to high-risk trading strategies. On June 13, 2023, an unexpected event occurred when Haru Invest suddenly suspended customer withdrawal services without any prior notice. Another cryptocurrency platform, Delio, which was managed by Haru Invest, also suspended withdrawals the following day.

The sudden suspension of withdrawals triggered massive unrest among investors and caught the attention of South Korean prosecutors. Subsequently, the prosecutors charged three executives of the company, claiming they had embezzled approximately $826 million in user deposits. The case has caused a significant uproar in South Korea, as it is one of the largest cryptocurrency fraud cases in the country.

Around 2 PM on August 28, the 15th Criminal Division of the Southern District Court of Seoul was conducting the eighth public trial of this case. While CEO Lee of Haru Invest was being tried for mismanaging the company's $826 million in cryptocurrency, a 51-year-old man named Jiang suddenly attacked Lee. The assailant was a victim who had suffered financial losses due to the deposit freeze incident.

Promising high returns for deposits in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but in reality, they had set up a scam trap long ago…

Haru Invest was established in South Korea and is headquartered in Singapore. According to information on its official website, it has approximately 80,000 members in 140 countries and manages over $2 billion in assets.

Haru Invest has consistently claimed that by depositing Bitcoin, Ethereum, or the world's largest stablecoin USDT, it can provide an annual interest rate return of up to 12%. Such enticing promotions naturally attracted a large number of users to deposit funds.

However, in June 2023, Haru Invest suddenly suspended deposits and withdrawals, shifting the blame to its partners. South Korean prosecutors immediately prohibited the company's executives from leaving the country and launched an investigation. In February of this year, prosecutors formally detained and charged three executives of the company (including Lee, who was released on bail in July).

In addition to being accused of embezzling 1.1 trillion Korean won, Haru Invest was also revealed to have invested most of the client deposits in personal names, misappropriated most of the tokens deposited by clients, and falsely advertised that the deposits were managed through "risk-free distributed investment technology."

The unpredictability of life, recounting the rise and fall of cryptocurrency giants…

The cryptocurrency space is complex, and many people, in pursuit of quick money and overnight wealth, choose to engage in borderline and overstepping activities, ultimately facing backlash.

On June 15, 2023, news broke in the cryptocurrency market that due to a series of declines in the overall market, the well-known investment firm Three Arrows Capital faced a margin call. The co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, Zhu Su, also posted on his social media, stating that "we are in communication with the relevant parties and are fully committed to resolving this issue," indirectly confirming the rumors.

In fact, the situation did not arise overnight. The previous frequent collapses of the Luna project had a profoundly negative impact on Three Arrows Capital. Before June 2023, Three Arrows Capital began to sell off large amounts of Ethereum, and its founder even deleted information related to ETH tokens from his Twitter; shortly thereafter, Three Arrows Capital was reported to have been cashing out stETH to repay debts, and even faced scandals of misappropriating user funds.

On September 19, the founder of Three Arrows Capital, Zhu Su, was arrested at Singapore's Changi Airport and sentenced to four months in prison, confirming the rumors of its collapse.

Undoubtedly, Three Arrows Capital holds a significant position in the cryptocurrency space, and calling it one of the most successful crypto hedge funds in the world is not an exaggeration. The troubles faced by Three Arrows Capital have had an unprecedented impact on the entire cryptocurrency sector.

Coincidentally, Do Kwon, the founder of the cryptocurrency ecosystem Terraform Labs, has experienced similar issues. The cryptocurrency he founded, TerraUSD and Luna, collapsed in May 2022, leading to approximately $40 billion in losses for global investors and allegations of financial fraud. On September 19, 2022, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor's Office applied to Interpol for a red notice to assist in the capture of Do Kwon. On March 23, 2023, Kwon was arrested in Montenegro, and U.S. prosecutors charged him with defrauding cryptocurrency clients.

Interestingly, SEC court documents revealed a Slack chat from 2019, showing that Do Kwon almost explicitly admitted they fabricated trading volumes. In addition, many explosive "gossip" were hidden within, containing a wealth of information. For example, Do Kwon stated, "I can create fake trades that look real… this incurs costs"; he made less than positive comments about Terra, stating, "Only those who believe Terra is the crown jewel (Hashed, 1kx) and those who operate staking businesses (polychain) will stake"; even more shockingly, Do Kwon directly exposed himself, saying, "I also pre-mined 1 billion SDT for ourselves" (The Terra ecosystem hosts a variety of stablecoins, including USD stablecoins, Korean won stablecoins, etc. Among them, the most special is TerraSDT, which is a stablecoin pegged to the IMF Special Drawing Rights). Such revelations are astonishing.

Perhaps it is the allure of the high profit margins of virtual currencies, or perhaps it is the joy of making quick money that people experience in the cryptocurrency space. Since the rise of cryptocurrencies, various explosive projects and Ponzi schemes have emerged one after another. Today's star projects may very well become tomorrow's garbage scams; today's cryptocurrency giants may become tomorrow's prisoners. Therefore, the saying remains: the cryptocurrency space is fraught with risks, and everyone must maintain sufficient calmness and caution.