The South Korean Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Workplace authorities offered the massive Bitcoin haul seized from hackers and deposited the income into the federal government treasury. Prosecutors disposed of 320.8 Bitcoin, raking in 31.6 billion received, about $21.5 million. They unfold the BTC gross sales over 11 days to attenuate potential market impression.
Initially, authorities had seized the cryptocurrency throughout a crackdown on a cross-border playing platform working from 2018 to 2021 that masked unlawful proceeds utilizing Bitcoin. Later, Gwangju authorities misplaced the seized Bitcoin in August 2025 when officers fell sufferer to a phishing scheme that allowed hackers to steal the funds. Nevertheless, the breach went unnoticed till December. Although authorities recovered the BTC this February. In response to one prosecutor, the hacker returned all of the Bitcoin after authorities froze the belongings throughout home and worldwide exchanges, making it inconceivable to money out.
South Korea’s investigations reveal various safety shortcomings
Authorities didn’t uncover the theft of the 320 BTC till December, as routine inspections centered solely on the bodily wallets slightly than the belongings inside them, and the difficulty was realized solely as the method of retrieving the Bitcoin from the nationwide treasury started.
Findings revealed that the workers accountable for the confiscated belongings looked for a web site on Google to confirm the Bitcoin in a chilly pockets and unknowingly entered a phishing web page designed to resemble the authentic one. The investigation revealed that, unaware of the phishing web site, authorities entered a 24-word mnemonic key that granted full entry to the pockets, ensuing within the lack of all funds.
Now, even after the restoration of the funds, prosecutors in Gwangju nonetheless plan to conduct an inner inquiry into the case and proceed efforts to establish the hacker.
The nationwide inquiry into Gwangju has additionally revealed that the Gangnam Police in Seoul has misplaced 22 BTC in a USB chilly pockets since 2021. For the reason that pockets remained in place, officers are investigating internally to find out if it was concerned. The authorities additionally blasted the Nationwide Tax Service after the group mistakenly included a pockets restoration phrase in a public report, leading to 4 million PRTG tokens, value $4.8 million, being despatched to an unknown tackle.
Furthermore, final month, Bithumb by chance gave prospects 620,000 BTC, leaving the alternate struggling to get better greater than $40 billion in cryptocurrency. The alternate mentioned it has corrected many of the credit score errors, though 13 billion received ($9 million) stays unrecovered as a result of some recipients offered or withdrew their funds earlier than the error was found.
Bitmax has over $74 million in debt from Bitcoin purchases
Final yr, some corporations in South Korea adopted the Technique’s method, buying Bitcoin with borrowed cash for his or her treasury. Nevertheless, a few of them have been taking in Bitcoin with little consideration of their skinny money flows.
For example, Bitmax, which held roughly 551 BTC, noticed its stability sheet plunge. They disclosed of their Q3 2025 submitting that debt rose from $4.4 million to $74 million over 9 months, nearly fully attributable to convertible bonds issued to fund Bitcoin purchases. Its debt-to-capital ratio elevated from 18% to 73%. Web losses within the first three quarters of 2025 totaled $52 million, comprising $43 million in by-product valuation losses associated to convertible bonds and $6 million of working losses. The corporate’s AR division leads to little or no money, based on a neighborhood media outlet, and R&D spending was lowered by round two-thirds within the first half of 2025.
Nonetheless, Bitmax argues it’s strengthening its income basis. In mid-2025, it absorbed IL4U, partnered with Samsung SDS, and projected $22 million in yearly enterprise IT income. Whether or not that may maintain $74 million in debt remains to be unsure.
On March 9, the corporate additionally introduced a 4-for-1 inventory consolidation to wipe out its earlier losses. Nevertheless, shares slid by greater than 10% on the tenth, closing close to $0.63.