- Todd Snyder, Terraform Labs’ liquidation administrator, filed suit against Jane Street, co-founder Robert Granieri, and employees Bryce Pratt and Michael Huang for alleged insider trading.
- Claims center on a Jane Street-linked wallet withdrawing 85 million UST from Curve3pool within 10 minutes of Terraform’s unannounced 150 million UST withdrawal on May 7, 2022.
- The moves allegedly hastened TerraUSD’s loss of peg and the broader $40 billion Terra-Luna collapse.
- Jane Street calls the lawsuit “desperate” and “baseless,” blaming a multibillion-dollar fraud by Terraform management.
- The case could test expanded insider-trading liability for market participants using private protocol communications.
The administrator winding down Terraform Labs has launched a fresh legal offensive against one of the crypto industry’s largest high-frequency trading firms, accusing Jane Street of exploiting confidential information to profit during the May 2022 market meltdown.
According to detailed reporting by several media, Todd Snyder filed the complaint naming Jane Street, co-founder Robert Granieri, and employees Bryce Pratt (a former Terraform Labs staffer) and Michael Huang.
Central to the allegations is a private chat group Pratt allegedly formed with ex-colleagues, including a software engineer and head of business development. On May 7, 2022, Terraform Labs quietly pulled 150 million TerraUSD from the Curve3pool liquidity pool. Minutes later, a wallet linked to Jane Street withdrew an additional 85 million UST, the suit claims, front-running the move and intensifying the depeg pressure.
A follow-up May 9 group message reportedly saw Pratt reaching out to Do Kwon and Jane Street representatives about potential bids on Luna or Bitcoin. The complaint ties these actions to non-public knowledge of Terraform’s liquidity decisions, obtained through market relationships and Jump Trading channels.
Jane Street has pushed back forcefully, describing the suit as “a transparent attempt to extract money” and reiterating that losses stemmed from “a multi-billion-dollar fraud perpetrated by the management of Terraform Labs.” The firm said it will “defend ourselves vigorously against these baseless, opportunistic claims.”
Snyder, in statements cited across outlets, countered that “Jane Street abused market relationships to rig the market in its favor during one of the most consequential events in crypto history.” He pledged to pursue all avenues for creditor recoveries.
The 2022 Terra-Luna implosion erased more than $40 billion in value and triggered cascading failures across crypto lending platforms. Terraform Labs entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2024; the current administrator is already pursuing a separate $4 billion claim against Jump Trading over similar events.
Legal observers note the suit may broaden the “misappropriation theory” of insider trading in crypto, holding market makers liable when they trade on confidential information from protocol insiders via informal channels rather than traditional corporate ties. The outcome could influence how regulators and courts view information flows in decentralized markets.
As proceedings advance, the case serves as a reminder of the long tail of accountability following the 2022 bear market’s most spectacular failure.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute advice of any kind. Readers should conduct their own research before making any decisions.
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