While many early LUNA investors have made no secret of their links to the infamous Ponzi – Mike Novogratz literally got a tattoo of the scheme on his arm — others have preferred to fly slightly more under the radar.
Unfortunately for them, despite their best efforts, in April a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expert witness managed to compile an exhaustive list of everyone who was able to acquire LUNA at a discount — most for $0.10 a token.
Here, Protos has collected details about some of the better and lesser-known individuals involved in this early sale. All of the purchases listed below occurred between July and September of 2018 until otherwise specified.
It’s important to understand why Protos is publishing details about these early investors in LUNA.
We’re not suggesting that any of these individuals are guilty of anything nor implicating them in Do Kwon and Daniel Shin’s spiderwebs of lies and fraud. Instead, it’s more to shine a light on who was approached to be an early part of LUNA and who was so taken by Do and Shin’ pitch of an algorithmic stablecoin offering insane yields that they did little-to-no real due diligence.
It’s also important to realize that many of these individuals aren’t victims at all — likely selling their tokens long before the collapse of the scheme. They’re likely highly educated and/or wealthy people who were blinded by a fear of missing out on the next big crypto opportunity.
Hwisang Kim
At the time Hwisang Kim invested $3 million for 30 million LUNA tokens, he was chief investment officer of Hashed, a blockchain fund that received over $30 million from SK Group (the second largest conglomerate in South Korea after Samsung).
Polychain Fund 1 LP
Polychain Fund 1 was the first fund created by Polychain Capital, an investment firm started by Olaf Carlson-Wee, who was the first employee of Coinbase and its head of risk management. Investors in Polychain include a16z and the Founders Fund. The firm acquired 30 million LUNA tokens.
Binance Marketing Services Ltd.
In what was likely less of a purchase and more of a ‘quid pro quo,’ Binance Marketing Services Limited was able to acquire 30 million LUNA tokens for $3 million dollars — but whether any money exchanged hands or the tokens were instead for Binance to market make is unclear.
Dunamu & Partners
The investment arm of Dunamu, the Korean company that created UpBit, an early cryptocurrency exchange established in 2017, acquired 20 million LUNA tokens.
TransLink Capital Partners IV, L.P.
A fund operated by TransLink Capital, a VC fund located in Palo Alto, CA. The IV LP fund raised $180 million, of which $2 million went toward LUNA. The fund acquired 20 million LUNA tokens.
Kakao Investment Co., Ltd.
The investment arm of South Korean company Kakao — largely known for being the most popular social media and chat app in South Korea — acquired 10 million LUNA tokens.
P2PPE
A now-dissolved UK company that was run by two Chinese nationals, Shuoji Zhou and Jingda Yan. Shuoji Zhou is co-founder of FBG Capital which was described as a ‘flipper‘ meaning it got quickly into and out of numerous ICO investments in 2017.
Jingda Yan is a finance professor in Beijing. The duo paid $1 million for 10 million LUNA tokens.
Arrington XRP Capital Cayman SPV, LTD.
The Cayman Islands arm of Arrington XRP Capital is operated by Michael Arrington, who became well-known in the ’90s for starting TechCrunch and who has since become a vocal proponent of XRP. His Cayman investment arm acquired 10 million LUNA tokens.
Cherubic Ventures Advisors Ltd.
An investment arm of Cherubic Ventures, a VC firm established by Matt Cheng and based out of Taiwan. The firm acquired 10 million LUNA tokens.
Nirvana Capital Ltd.
A Beijing-based cryptocurrency investment firm started by Alfred Jiang. Jiang was able to acquire 10 million LUNA tokens.
HOF Capital GGI Fund Tokens, LLC
The Cayman Islands investment arm of HOF Capital listed Daniel Shin, co-founder of LUNA/Terra, as a Venture Partner until the collapse. The firm acquired an auspicious 9.999 million LUNA tokens.
Huobi Capital
Now known as HTX Ventures following Justin Sun’s involvement, Huobi Capital acquired 7.5 million LUNA tokens.
1kx LP
1kx is a German VC fund that’s been a massive investor in cryptocurrency and web3 companies since 2017. It acquired 5 million LUNA tokens.
Kenetic Capital SP1 Unlimited
Kenetic Capital SP1 Unlimited is a fund operated by Kenetic Capital, a Hong Kong-based proprietary trading and VC investment firm that made numerous investments into BlockFi and also invested in FTX. It acquired 5 million LUNA tokens.
Monex Group, Inc.
Monex Group is a Japanese financial services company that purchased a popular crypto exchange called Coincheck in 2018. Coincheck is currently seeking a listing on NASDAQ. Monex Group acquired 4.6 million LUNA tokens.
BONGGUN BAE
Likely a misspelling of Bongun Bae, a South Korean executive currently working on web3 gaming through a company called NPIXEL. Bongun Bae was able to acquire 4.4 million LUNA tokens.
Divergence Digital Currency LP
The founder of Divergence Digital Currency (DDC) — now a part of Struck Capital — Adam Struck, sued one of his employees at DDC, Yida Gao, for defrauding him. The fund acquired almost 4 million LUNA tokens.
Jack Abraham
Abraham is well known for founding telehealth company Hims & Hers but was also a loud proponent of LUNA/Terra — especially in an interview with Anthony Pompliano. He also stated in the Pompliano interview that from a regulatory standpoint, he’s worried about pursuing crypto. Abraham acquired 3.5 million LUNA tokens.
Digital Asset Capital Management Inc.
LUNA was one of the first investments made by BVI-headquartered Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM), an investment firm that almost exclusively invests in crypto.
Run by co-founder Richard Galvin, the CEO bragged in a video interview with Cointelegraph about how well his firm was able to trade LUNA. DACM acquired 2.5 million LUNA tokens.
BGT Issuer Ltd.
A BVI-domiciled fund with headquarters supposedly in Singapore. It entered into voluntary liquidation in the BVI in 2022. BGT Issuer acquired 2.5 million LUNA tokens.
Coefficient Group Holding Ltd.
It’s unclear what Coefficient Group does and its internet footprint — including a website that doesn’t explain anything — is minimal. The company is UK-based and was apparently founded by a chartered financial accountant. Coefficient Group acquired 2.5 million LUNA tokens.
WXY Consulting Pte. LTD.
The apparently now-defunct consulting agency was based out of Beijing but had a business address in Singapore. Other clients involved with the firm include FTX and KuCoin, with Huobi (now HTX) being listed as an investor.
Its former website is now blank but states it’s connected to Xinzhou Jiuzhong Medical Technology Co., Ltd. In all likelihood, WXY received 1.7 million LUNA tokens as a form of sweat equity.
Karisa Anne Sukamoto
A former Singaporean beauty queen and fashion designer who acquired 1.5 million LUNA tokens.
Masa Kakiya
Currently the head of business development in Japan for web3 gaming company Immutable, Kakiya once worked for cryptocurrency company ConsenSys. He acquired 1.5 million LUNA tokens
The Tenev Living Trust
The Tenev Living Trust is a private investment holding for Vladimir Tenev, the CEO and co-founder of Robinhood Markets, a major brokerage firm. Tenev had Do Kwon on his podcast Under the Hood to discuss ‘a brave new system‘ of spinning up FinTech apps like websites — the episode has since been deleted. Tenev acquired 1 million LUNA tokens.
Loi Luu
Singaporean founder of a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange called KyberNetwork and now working on a web3 VC fund called Caliber. Luu received 1 million LUNA tokens.
GBIC LLC
A New York-based crypto investor with a footprint in South Korea and China. GBIC was also an early investor in FTX and was able to acquire 1 million LUNA tokens.
Stefano Schiavi
An investor and entrepreneur focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions, Schiavi used to run a now-defunct Seoul-based ‘not-for-profit’ called Not For Sale. He acquired 1 million LUNA tokens.
David Lee
A professor at Singapore University of Social Sciences and a one-time visiting scholar at Stanford University who acquired 1 million LUNA tokens.
Milojko Spajić
According to regulators in Montenegro, the country’s current prime minister never submitted the required paperwork declaring that he had purchased 750,000 LUNA tokens in 2018. He repeatedly lied to the public, claiming that the tokens were purchased for a Singaporean firm he was employed by called Das Capital.
Rumors of Spajić’s close connections to the founders of LUNA have abounded since Do Kwon chose to flee to Montenegro after being issued a red notice by Interpol and being wanted by South Korean and US authorities.
Oh Eng Bin
A senior partner at Dentons, the largest global law firm. Oh Eng Bin operates out of Singapore, leads Dentons’ blockchain focus, and acquired 600,000 LUNA tokens.
Jon Choi
Choi is a Harvard graduate who was involved with the Ethereum Foundation and created a now-defunct app to share outfits. He acquired 500,000 LUNA tokens.
QCP Capital
The investment arm of Singaporean digital asset trader and market maker QCP Group acquired 500,000 LUNA tokens.
Dongwon Kim
A South Korean former director at Bithumb and cryptocurrency consultant. He acquired 2 million LUNA tokens.
There were also many early investors named by the SEC that weren’t included in our list. Some of these individuals were difficult to identify and others contributed less than significant amounts to the pre-sale.
The most puzzling name listed was Northgatestars, which acquired 2.5 million LUNA tokens in July of 2018, while the individuals who contributed the most that we were unable to positively identify were Younghoon Moon (acquired 4.5 million LUNA tokens), Sung hun Park (acquired 4.48 million LUNA tokens), Siwon Lee, (acquired 4.4 million LUNA tokens), and Jonyong Park (acquired 3 million LUNA tokens).
Late Stage
Below are a number of large-scale investors who put money into LUNA between late 2019 and June of 2021. It isn’t known what kind of discount they received on these purchases or what contractual agreements were signed:
Galaxy Digital Trading HK Ltd.
Mike Novogratz’s company famously dumped $4 million into LUNA in 2020.
Pantera Digital Asset Fund LP
Pantera Capital is one of the more well-known cryptocurrency funds in the industry, famously struggling due to its investment in FTX. It poured $1.7 million into LUNA in 2020.
Blockchain Ventures Fund I LP
This is the venture arm of Blockchain (dot com). Blockchain spent $1.3 million on LUNA in 2021.
Accomplice Blockchain Two Ltd.
Accomplice Blockchain is a Boston-based crypto investment firm run by Jeff Fagnan. It spent $600,000 on LUNA in 2020.
ACCII Offshore Blocker Ltd.
This fund created by Balancer Labs, a non-custodial portfolio manager, liquidity provider, and price sensor, put $600,000 into LUNA in 2020.
DZG Investment Trust
This is a fund controlled by a ‘David Z. Galpin,’ who put just under $300,000 into LUNA between 2019 and 2020.
Be careful, it turns out everyone — from the most sophisticated venture capital investors, professors at world-class universities, and political luminaries, to CEOs of some of the largest companies on Earth — can easily be fooled by charisma, big numbers, and hype.
Currently, Do Kwon remains in a Montenegrin existential crisis, a Schrödinger’s Kwon that means despite the multi-billion-dollar financial criminal tied to the current prime minister, he can’t be extradited to both South Korea and the US.