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Breaking News: South Korea Busts $101M Crypto Money Laundering Network
South Korean authorities have dismantled an international crypto money laundering operation involving nearly 148.9 billion won ($101.7 million), according to a statement released Monday by the Korea Customs Service (KCS).
Three Chinese nationals have been handed over to prosecutors for allegedly violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. Investigators say the group used illegal foreign exchange channels to move large sums of cryptocurrency across borders and into South Korea.
How the Operation Worked
The scheme reportedly ran from September 2021 to June 2025. During this period, the suspects bought crypto assets in multiple countries, transferred them into South Korean wallets, converted them into Korean won, and then distributed the funds across numerous local bank accounts.
To avoid detection, the transactions were disguised as legitimate payments, including cosmetic surgery fees for foreign patients and overseas tuition expenses. By spreading funds across multiple wallets and accounts in different countries, the network made tracking extremely difficult for traditional monitoring systems.
Crypto Regulation Tightens Amid Policy Shift
The crackdown comes at a critical moment for South Korea’s crypto market. Recently, regulators announced plans to lift the country’s nine-year ban on corporate crypto investment. Under the new rules, publicly listed companies will be allowed to invest up to 5% of their equity capital in the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization on the nation’s five major exchanges.
In parallel, the National Assembly has approved amendments to the Capital Markets Act and Electronic Securities Act, laying the groundwork for tokenized securities (STOs) and smart contract adoption. The new STO framework is expected to take effect in January 2027 as part of broader crypto deregulation efforts, which may also include Bitcoin ETF approvals.
The Bigger Picture
These moves underline South Korea’s dual-track approach to crypto: encouraging innovation and institutional participation while simultaneously strengthening enforcement against illegal cross-border financial activity.
The message is clear — crypto adoption is expanding, but compliance and oversight are becoming stricter than ever.

Gli ETF Bitcoin statunitensi vedono il più forte afflusso in quasi tre settimane
Gli ETF Bitcoin quotati negli Stati Uniti hanno registrato un afflusso netto combinato di $223.5 milioni il 10 dicembre, segnando il loro più alto afflusso in un singolo giorno in quasi tre settimane, basato sui dati di Farside Investors. Questa ripresa arriva dopo un periodo di attività contenuta e notevoli deflussi attraverso diversi fondi.
I rinnovati afflussi hanno seguito un rallentamento del momentum all'inizio del mese, inclusi $195 milioni in deflussi netti il 4 dicembre. Durante l'ultima sessione, l'IBIT di BlackRock ha guidato il mercato con $192.9 milioni in afflussi, mentre il FBTC di Fidelity ha aggiunto $30.6 milioni. Altri emittenti di ETF Bitcoin hanno riportato flussi per lo più stabili, ma le forti performance di questi due prodotti sono state sufficienti per sollevare il totale giornaliero complessivo al suo livello più alto da fine novembre.

$Bitcoin’s network hashrate has slipped below the 1 ZettaHash per second (ZH/s) level after holding above it for several months. The drop reflects growing pressure on miners as mining profitability declines, driven by lower hashprice, higher operational costs, and recent network adjustments.
Market data shows that some less efficient miners have temporarily shut down machines, leading to a short-term reduction in total computing power. In response, the Bitcoin protocol has started to adjust mining difficulty downward, helping stabilize block times and reduce pressure on remaining miners.
Despite the decline, analysts note that Bitcoin’s network security remains extremely strong, as the current hashrate is still near historic highs. This move is largely seen as a healthy consolidation phase, where weaker miners exit and the network rebalances rather than a sign of long-term weakness.
In short:
The hashrate dip below ZettaHash highlights miner stress and short-term adjustment, not a structural threat to Bitcoin’s network.
$BTC
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