Terraform Labs Administrator Sues Jane Street Over Terra Collapse

• Terraform Labs’ administrator sued Jane Street, alleging it used non-public information to front-run trades before the TerraUSD and LUNA collapse.
• The lawsuit names Jane Street executives and employees and could test insider-trading legal standards within crypto markets. 

The bankruptcy administrator for Terraform Labs has filed a lawsuit against Jane Street, accusing the company of insider trading in connection with the Terra ecosystem crash in 2022. The lawsuit was filed by Todd Snyder on behalf of Terraform Labs in federal court in New York. According to the lawsuit, Jane Street accessed non-public information from insiders at Terraform and used it to make trades before TerraUSD lost its peg to the US dollar.

The depegging of TerraUSD in May 2022 led to a significant downturn in the market, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars in market value for investors. The price of LUNA also crashed to zero, causing further volatility in the crypto market. The administrator believes that some of the trading activities took place before major liquidity changes were announced to the public.

Allegations Focus on Liquidity Withdrawals

The lawsuit focuses on a liquidity withdrawal of around 150 million TerraUSD from a Curve pool before the depegging incident. As per the court filings, an account associated with Jane Street withdrew about 85 million TerraUSD shortly after the internal transaction took place. Snyder points out that this indicates knowledge of Terraform’s internal liquidity management.

The lawsuit asserts that Jane Street mitigated risks before the market responded to the challenges in the ecosystem. The administrator demands compensation, return of ill-gotten gains, and other monetary relief as a jury trial. The lawsuit mentions particular executives and employees in relation to the alleged activity. Jane Street has denied the allegations and announced that it will vigorously defend itself in court. Jane Street has not admitted to any wrongdoing in connection with the Terra market incidents.

Wider Legal and Market Ramifications

Terraform Labs filed for bankruptcy protection in 2024 as a result of the aftermath of the Terra collapse. The administrator is still pursuing asset recovery on behalf of creditors impacted by the market downturn. This lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal cases related to trading activity related to the Terra crisis.

Legal experts suggest that this lawsuit could help to shed light on the applicability of insider trading rules in the context of decentralized finance markets. Courts may review whether conventional securities laws apply to digital asset liquidity coordination and market-making activities. Investors and market players are watching this litigation very closely, as it could have implications for future compliance requirements for crypto trading platforms. The Terra collapse is one of the biggest failures in digital asset history to date. This lawsuit is the latest major development in the legal fallout from that event.

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