On January 23, 2026, reports emerged that the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office had launched a massive internal probe after discovering that a significant amount of seized Bitcoin had simply "vanished."
The Details of the Theft🤑🤑
Amount Stolen: Approximately 70 billion won (roughly $48 million USD).
The Cause: A phishing attack. An employee at the prosecutor's office reportedly clicked on a fraudulent link during a routine audit of confiscated assets.
The Method: The sensitive passwords and encryption keys for the Bitcoin, which were stored on physical USB drives (cold storage), were compromised. This allowed
The Method: The sensitive passwords and encryption keys for the Bitcoin, which were stored on physical USB drives (cold storage), were compromised. This allowed hackers to drain the wallets remotely.
Note: This incident is highly concerning because it proves that even elite law enforcement agencies, tasked with safeguarding criminal proceeds, can fall victim to basic cybersecurity traps like phishing.🥲🥲
Legal Context: The Power to Seize
The seizure itself was rooted in a landmark January 2026 Supreme Court ruling. The court officially declared that Bitcoin stored on exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb are "intangible assets with property value" and are fully subject to the Criminal Procedure Act. This gave prosecutors the green light to seize crypto directly from exchange accounts, a power they used in a large illegal gambling case before the subsequent theft occurred.
