Ethereum founder says crypto has potential to ‘attract all of the Do Kwons’

Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin has warned that the cryptocurrency sector still has the potential to attract bad actors while referencing Terra (LUNA) proprietor Do Kwon. 

Notably, Kwon is at the center of allegations of engineering the Terra ecosystem crash that resulted in significant losses alongside contributing to the ongoing crypto bear market. 

According to Buterin, if governments attempting to establish crypto hubs become too friendly to the sector, they can accidentally attract players with bad intentions for the industry, he said in an interview with Strait Times on November 20.

Notably, Buterin cited the case of Singapore, where Kwon resided before becoming a fugitive in the wake of Terra’s collapse. 

“The thing with the crypto space is it’s very high variance. And the problem is that if you get a certain kind of reputation, it’s very easy to accidentally attract all of the Do Kwons. In Singapore, it’s definitely true to some extent that the crypto space has not been sending its best, right? Do Kwon actually himself spent some time here,” Buterin said. 

Buterin’s contention with El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption 

Furthermore, Buterin took issue with El Salvador’s Bitcoin (BTC) adoption, stating that it is unsustainable. 

“This is one of my criticisms of the Bitcoin community, for example. They just automatically love everyone rich and powerful who supports Bitcoin. <…> [A] lot of Bitcoin people just kind of ignored the fact that El Salvador, or at least [Nayib Bukele’s] government, is very not democratic that actually has a lot of problems and are not good at respecting people’s freedom,” Buterin added.

Additionally, Buterin highlighted the importance of taking a balanced cryptocurrency regulation approach while hailing the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

“I definitely appreciate the amount of effort that they’ve been putting into it and their willingness to explore many different kinds of application and be supportive,” he added. 

Buterin’s take on Terra collapse 

Previously, Buterin claimed that before the Terra crash, Do Kwon and his team allegedly used market manipulation to pump up the network’s native token. 

Interestingly, the Ethereum founder stated that the Terra situation indicates that the decentralization concept only solves some problems. He believes that a great idea with poor execution is similar to the Terra case. 

Besides the Terra crash, the FTX cryptocurrency exchange collapse has hit the market. At the same time, FTX’s former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, is facing accusations of misappropriating customer funds.