mental health

Key witness called to testify at Terra parliamentary inquiry is a no-show

Kim Seo-joon’s company Hashed had $3.6 billion wiped since Luna Classic’s April high — with the mental effects of the Terra collapse hospitalizing Seo-joon since July.

The CEO of venture capital firm Hashed and early Terra investor Kim Seo-joon has cited “extreme stress” following the Terra crash as the reason for his no-show at South Korea’s National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee.

Seo-joon was one of six people selected to take part in the South Korean parliament’s latest inquiry to better understand the events that led to the infamous $40 billion wipe out of Terra’s cryptocurrencies, according to an Oct. 24 article from the Korea Economic Daily.

According to a letter from Seo-joon, he suffered severe mental harm from the following the sudden collapse of LUNC and the de-pegging of its associated algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD Classic (USTC), writing:

“Since the Luna-Terra crash occurred, I have been suffering from anxiety disorder and panic disorder due to extreme mental stress.”

In addition to the letter submitted to the National Assembly, Seo-joon attached an expert opinion and medical certificate which stated that he’d been hospitalized and received psychiatrist treatment since Jul. 29.

Medication and counseling treatment were also said to have worsened Seo-joon’s anxiety, who is “in absolute need of emotional stability at this time,” according to the expert opinion.

A few months after the infamous Luna Classic (LUNC) collapse, Seo-joon disclosed that Hashed had suffered a $3.6 billion loss from its peak value in late April, having owned 30 million LUNC tokens, according to an August interview with Bloomberg.

Earlier this month, the chairman of the South Korean exchange Bithumb, Lee Jung-hoon, also failed to attend the parliamentary hearing on Oct. 6, citing a panic disorder as the reason for his no-show.

Related: South Korean authorities raid 15 entities linked to Terra collapse

Other witnesses called in various stages of the inquiry include Bithumb major shareholder Kang Jong-hyun, CEO of Dunamu which runs South Korea’s largest crypto exchange UpBit Lee Seok-woo, Chai Holdco director Shin Hyun-sung and Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin.

Terra CEO and co-founder Do Kwon was not listed to be inquired by Korea’s Political Affairs Committee — as law enforcement units throughout the globe continue to try tracking his whereabouts.

Mental health support prime for decentralization, say academics

A shortage of mental health services in the future could be solved with a Web3-powered mental health support network, suggests academics.

Decentralized mental health services could be the answer to the looming shortage of mental health professionals, according to professors from John Hopkins University based in Baltimore.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Johannes Thrul from the John Hopkins School of Mental Health postulated that the mental health support sector could take a page from decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) by offering support services in a decentralized system.

Thrul authored a July 22 academic paper looking into “Web3 and digital mental health,” envisioning a decentralized peer support system that relies on “individuals with lived experience” to provide help “based on their expertise in managing their own conditions.”

Thrul said the system would work by using a “crypto token tied to the community,” which would be rewarded to those that “make positive contributions to the community” such as helping someone overcome a mental health issue in a peer support environment.

He said the system would not be bound to “border restrictions,” noting how quickly governments adapted to remote delivery of health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, though he admitted it could not replace the mainstream medical system alone. Instead, it could be used to supplement seeing a traditional psychologist.

Another professor who contributed to the academic paper, Luke Kalb, said a decentralized peer support system will provide more flexibility and freedom to how we approach mental health issues, stating:

“[The] community can come up with their own creative ways to tackle problems […] this peer support system opens up to so many opportunities for creativity.”

The professors noted that such a system may become essential in the future given the likelihood of a shortage of traditional mental health services in the future with “61% of practicing psychiatrists in the U.S. are nearing retirement.”

Related: Mental health and crypto: How does volatility effect well-being?

The paper also cited research by The Department of Health and Human Services which projects “a protracted national workforce shortage in all mental health professionals by 2025.”

Although the professors have just begun the early stages of research, they are hoping to start building the necessary professional relationships to see this happen. Thrul said that “it’s tough finding the right technical partnership with the same shared vision […] however we want to put this out there and as a call to read, rally and reach out.”