A local court has again denied an arrest warrant for Shin Hyun-seung, a co-founder of Terraform Labs and key figure in the massive collapse of the blockchain firm's cryptocurrencies along with fellow co-founder Kwon Do-hyeong.

The Seoul Southern District Court on Thursday rejected the prosecution's request for a pretrial detention warrant for the suspect, widely known as Daniel Shin, on charges of fraud and violation of the Capital Markets Act.

The court said that while the charges seem to have been verified to a considerable degree, the investigation of Shin’s accomplices abroad appears to take a long time and the risk of destroying evidence has been mitigated with the arrest of key accomplice Kwon.

The court also cited the need to allow the suspect to exercise his right to defend himself, saying that there remains contention regarding some allegations.

Shin is accused of fraudulently promoting Terra-Luna-based payment services and illegally profiting to the tune of 140 billion won, or over 100 million U.S. dollars, by selling the tokens at a peak.

He is also accused of failing to properly inform investors about the risk of the cryptocurrencies crashing.

The prosecution previously sought an arrest warrant for Shin in November, but the court rejected the request.