By Tyler Warner
5 min read
Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.
GM!
Today’s top news:
Nearly three years after Terra’s $40B vaporization, a U.S. judge finally handed down the verdict.
Do Kwon is going away for 15 years.
A U.S. court sentenced Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon to 15 years in federal prison, capping a multiyear saga that included a global manhunt, multiple extradition attempts—and one of the largest wealth destructions in crypto history.
The judge highlighted the “eye-popping” damage caused by Terra’s collapse, an event that wiped out billions in retail savings, destabilized major funds, and triggered a cascading credit unwind across lenders and market makers.
Hundreds of victims submitted statements describing financial ruin, broken trust, and lasting mental health fallout.
Prosecutors argued Kwon had misled investors about reserves backing UST and misrepresented the stability of the algorithmic design.
In the end, the court sided with a mid-range sentence: significant, but notably below the 40+ years prosecutors wanted.
Terraform Labs remains in bankruptcy, and civil penalties from the SEC case are still playing out.
“The blame should be pointed at me. I failed to operate the system in the right way. I want to prevent other crypto founders from standing where I am right now.” - Do Kwon
This was one of crypto’s biggest black swan events and the spark that lit the fuse for 2022 bear market selloff.
After the dust had settled, Terra had fallen from an ATH over $100 to below $0.50.
Massive wealth destruction.
And Do Kwon and his bravado clearly played a key role in that destruction.
Crypto has learned some lessons from Terra Luna, namely—no more algorithmic stablecoins.
But 15 years won’t heal the wounds of those the most impacted in the Terra Luna devastation.
And here we are in late 2025, just 3 years later, and some are repeating the mistakes of the past (namely, being too concentrated on perps exchanges and too leveraged up).
It’s time to take these lessons to heart and adjust one’s trading style, if you find yourself continually impacted.
Because the most important rule in this game is to survive.
A few Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
Here’s a rundown of major token, protocol and airdrop news from the day:
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
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