South Korea’s Nationwide Police Company (KNPA) has reportedly drafted new tips for dealing with seized cryptocurrencies, together with privacy-focused property, as authorities transfer to standardize how digital asset proof is saved and managed.
In response to a report by native media outlet Asiae, the KNPA accomplished a draft directive outlining compliance necessities at every stage of crypto seizure. The directive contains measures for managing software program wallets wanted to deal with crypto property and privacy-focused tokens.
A police spokesperson instructed Asiae that as investigative paradigms change, area investigators want systematic tips together with applicable assist. “Up to now, seized property had been saved in warehouses. Now we should handle pockets addresses and personal keys,” the spokesperson stated.
The transfer follows latest circumstances wherein seized cryptocurrencies had been misplaced or mishandled whereas in authorities custody, prompting nearer scrutiny of asset administration practices.
Cointelegraph reached out to the Nationwide Police Company and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Workplace for feedback, however had not acquired a response by publication.
KNPA to pick custody supplier to deal with seized crypto
In response to Asiae, the KNPA additionally plans to finalize the collection of a personal custody supplier inside the first half of 2026. In 2025, three separate bidding makes an attempt to discover a custody supplier reportedly failed after companies that utilized had been deemed unsuitable.
Asiae additionally reported that price range constraints posed a problem. The report stated the police allotted solely 83 million gained (about $55,600) to deal with seized crypto property, regardless of the dangers concerned.
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Primarily based on circumstances with finalized courtroom rulings, Asiae estimated that the worth of crypto seized by police within the final 5 years totals 54.5 billion gained (about $36.5 million).
This contains roughly 50.7 billion gained in Bitcoin (BTC) and 1.8 billion gained in Ether (ETH).
Phishing incident highlights crypto custody dangers
The brand new draft tips for managing seized cryptocurrencies comply with heightened scrutiny of custody practices after a phishing incident involving government-held Bitcoin earlier this 12 months.
On Jan. 23, officers with the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Workplace found throughout a routine inspection that about 320 Bitcoin had gone lacking from prosecutors’ custody throughout an investigation in August 2025.
On Feb. 19, prosecutors reported that they’d unexpectedly recovered the lacking BTC after the unknown hacker returned the stolen crypto.
On March 10, the prosecutors stated they’d offered the property and transferred about 31.59 billion Korean gained (about $21.5 million) to the nationwide treasury.
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