South Korean prosecutors have sold 320.8 bitcoins they recovered after a phishing incident temporarily stripped the cryptocurrency from government control.
The Gwangju District Public Prosecutors Office announced that it sold 320.8 Bitcoin (BTC) at market price and transferred 31.59 billion Korean won (approximately $21.5 million) to the national treasury, Chosun Ilbo reported on Tuesday.
Authorities reportedly sold Bitcoin in small lots over an 11-day period from February 24 to March 6 to avoid market turmoil.
The bitcoins were reportedly originally seized from a suspect suspected of operating an illegal gambling site that allegedly handled around 390 billion won (approximately $285 million) in bets between 2018 and 2021.
Bitcoin lost in phishing attack was returned earlier this year
Prosecutors reportedly discovered that the asset management company was fooled by a phishing website and the virtual currency was lost during custody delivery in August 2025. The funds were then found to be in the hacker’s wallet.
Gwangju High Public Prosecutors Office. sauce: Chosun Ilbo
Bitcoin returned to government-controlled wallets on February 17 after authorities asked domestic and foreign exchanges to freeze addresses, making it difficult to liquidate funds.
Related: South Korean authorities come under fire over $43 billion Bithumb Bitcoin error
On February 19, the Gwangju District Prosecutor’s Office announced that the hacker unexpectedly sent back 320.88 Bitcoins, which were then transferred to a secure exchange wallet controlled by authorities.
South Korean court reconsiders virtual currency losses in debt restructuring lawsuits
In other South Korean crypto news, it has been reported that courts are currently reconsidering the handling of crypto currency-related debts in personal rehabilitation cases.
Newly established rehabilitation courts in Daejeon, Daegu, and Gwangju are preparing guidelines that will, in principle, exclude investment losses in stocks and virtual currencies from liquidation value calculations, local media outlet EToday reported on Sunday.
EToday reported that this transition would mean that crypto investment losses would be treated as ordinary asset losses rather than speculative debt, potentially reducing repayment obligations for individuals undergoing court-supervised debt restructuring.
magazine: China’s blockchain ’50x’ boost, AI in collaboration with Alibaba mines Bitcoin: Asia Express
