South Korea’s National Tax Service is recruiting a private firm to manage seized cryptocurrency. The decision follows a critical error in late February. Officials inadvertently published a wallet recovery phrase in a public press release. Hackers immediately transferred approximately $4.8 million in confiscated tokens.
To prevent future breaches, a new task force will oversee vendor selection by the first half of 2026. Criteria include strict security standards and mandatory insurance coverage under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act.
This scandal joins a wider pattern of mishandling. Seoul police previously lost 22 Bitcoin from a cold wallet. Consequently, Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yun-cheol ordered a cross-agency probe into how the government stores digital assets.