Disgraced Terra Founder Do Kwon Inspires Korean Indie Film ‘Crypto Man’

The $45 billion Terra crash of 2022, involving TerraUSD and LUNA, is set to be immortalized in a new South Korean independent movie.

In “Crypto Man,” the late actor Song Jae-rim plays the protagonist and self-proclaimed business genius who develops an altcoin dubbed MOMMY. Jae-rim, a well-known actor in South Korea, was found dead in his hotel room in November 2024, in what police think was likely a suicide.

According to the Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily, the new movie is loosely inspired by the story of Terraform Labs.

Bombastic South Korean entrepreneur Do Kwon founded Terraform Labs, known for its TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin and accompanying LUNA token. Both assets collapsed in May 2022, wiping out $45 billion in market value overnight and causing a chain of bankruptcies throughout the crypto world, before its founder went on a years-long run from the law across the globe.

This means that Do Kwon, who was apprehended by authorities in Montenegro last year, joins the ranks of financial criminals such as Jordan Belfort of “The Wolf of Wall Street” fame and Sam Bankman-Fried, who will be immortalized in film and TV.

The director Harry Hyun explained to the Korean newspaper JTBC that the movie looks to portray “the reality of young people who are addicted to stocks during the day and coin speculation at night.”

Hyun didn’t reveal much about the storyline, but said the protagonist “makes an irreversible choice.”

The director—who reportedly won acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival for her movie “Nine Times Fired”—said the upcoming film will also contain “elements of black comedy.”

The Terra film is set to officially hit Korean theaters on Jan. 15, 2025, distributed by MooAm Productions, with no word on a global release.

As the movie is based on true crimes, where the sentencing has not yet been fully carried out, Hyun explained that “legal advice was received based on legal cases before production.”

Crypto industry disasters are increasingly getting the attention of filmmakers; at one point, over seven films, documentaries, and TV series were confirmed to be based on the story of the defunct crypto exchange FTX.

Most recently, in November 2024, Girls screenwriter Lena Dunham was signed on to write an adaptation of the FTX tragedy after Apple and A24 purchased the rights to the story.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.