Two arrested in South Korea after 22 Bitcoin disappear from police station
Two individuals have been arrested in South Korea in connection with the disappearance of 22 Bitcoin previously seized by police. The coins are currently worth about $1.4 million.
The Bitcoin had been stored as evidence at the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul since November 2021, after being confiscated during an investigation into a hack involving A Coin Foundation. The suspects are reportedly linked to the same company — one of them is said to be its CEO or a key executive, according to Yonhap News.
How the funds disappeared
The Bitcoin was seized in November 2021 following a hack of a local crypto exchange. Under protocol, such assets were supposed to be stored in a cold wallet fully controlled by the police — meaning offline storage with no internet access.However, the funds were instead placed in a cold wallet owned by a third party connected to the hacking case. That third party also had access to the wallet’s seed phrase — a secret set of words that provides full control over a crypto wallet. Local media report that police officers themselves did not know the seed phrase.
The loss went unnoticed for four years and was only discovered during a nationwide audit triggered by a separate incident in which 320 BTC went missing from a prosecutors’ office account.
One of the investigators involved in the original exchange hacking case was previously convicted on bribery charges.
Why it matters
The case highlights that even state authorities can make critical mistakes when handling digital assets. Poor management of a seed phrase effectively means losing full control over the funds.The incident could lead to tighter rules for storing seized crypto assets in South Korea and serve as a warning to other countries about the need for strict security procedures when handling digital evidence.
Earlier, we reported that South Korea plans to tighten cryptocurrency regulations following the Bithumb incident.
Latest Crypto News
-
Afghanistan
-
Albania
-
Algeria
-
Angola
-
Argentina
-
Armenia
-
Australia
-
Austria
-
Azerbaijan
-
Bahamas
-
Bahrain
-
Bangladesh
-
Belarus
-
Belgium
-
Bolivia
-
Botswana
-
Brazil
-
Brunei
-
Bulgaria
-
Cambodia
-
Cameroon
-
Canada
-
Chile
-
China
-
Colombia
-
Congo
-
Costa Rica
-
Cote d'Ivoire
-
Croatia
-
Cuba
-
Cyprus
-
Czechia
-
DR Congo
-
Denmark
-
Dominican Republic
-
Ecuador
-
Egypt
-
El Salvador
-
Estonia
-
Eswatini
-
Ethiopia
-
Finland
-
France
-
Georgia
-
Germany
-
Ghana
-
Greece
-
Haiti
-
Hong Kong
-
Hungary
-
India
-
Indonesia
-
Iran, Islamic republic
-
Iraq
-
Ireland
-
Israel
-
Italy
-
Jamaica
-
Japan
-
Jordan
-
Kazakhstan
-
Kenya
-
Korea
-
Kuwait
-
Kyrgyzstan
-
Laos
-
Latvia
-
Lebanon
-
Lesotho
-
Libya
-
Lithuania
-
Luxembourg
-
Madagascar
-
Malaysia
-
Malta
-
Mauritius
-
Mexico
-
Moldova
-
Mongolia
-
Montenegro
-
Morocco
-
Mozambique
-
Myanmar
-
Namibia
-
Nepal
-
Netherlands
-
New Zealand
-
Nigeria
-
North Macedonia
-
Norway
-
Oman
-
Pakistan
-
Palestine
-
Panama
-
Papua New Guinea
-
Paraguay
-
Peru
-
Philippines
-
Poland
-
Portugal
-
Puerto Rico
-
Qatar
-
Reunion
-
Romania
-
Rwanda
-
Saudi Arabia
-
Serbia
-
Singapore
-
Slovakia
-
Slovenia
-
Somalia
-
South Africa
-
Spain
-
Sri Lanka
-
Sweden
-
Switzerland
-
Syria
-
Taiwan
-
Tajikistan
-
Tanzania
-
Thailand
-
Trinidad and Tobago
-
Tunisia
-
Turkey
-
UAE
-
Uganda
-
Ukraine
-
United Kingdom
-
United States
-
Uruguay
-
Uzbekistan
-
Venezuela
-
Vietnam
-
Yemen
-
Zambia
-
Zimbabwe
- Forex
- Crypto
