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South Korean prosecutors have recovered $21 million worth of bitcoin that was stolen from their custody last year.
The hacker returned the bitcoin after authorities blocked centralized exchange transactions involving the stolen assets, though prosecutors said the hacker’s identity remains unknown.

South Korean prosecutors have recovered roughly $21.4 million worth of bitcoin
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stolen from their custody last year, according to local media reports.

Last December, the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office discovered that they had lost the bitcoin seized from a raid on a gambling platform. An internal investigation revealed that the bitcoin was hacked in August after investigators mistakenly accessed a phishing website and entered recovery seed phrases.

On Tuesday, the hacker returned 320.8 BTC to the wallet held by authorities, local news outlet Digital Asset reported. Prosecutors said they had blocked centralized exchange transactions involving the hacker's wallet, making it difficult to liquidate the bitcoin. The hacker’s identity remains un known.
Prosecutors have since moved the returned bitcoin to a local exchange for safekeeping and will continue to track down the hacker's identity, the report said.

Meanwhile, the incident has prompted a nationwide review of investigative agencies' management of seized digital assets. Last week, the investigation revealed that the Seoul Gangnam Police Station has also lost track of 22 BTC stored in a cold wallet since 2021.

The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency confirmed with The Block that it has launched an internal probe to determine the exact circumstances of the leak and whether there was any internal involvement.

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French police have arrested six suspects, including one minor, following the violent kidnapping of a magistrate and her mother in a case tied to cryptocurrency extortion, authorities confirmed this week.

Key Takeaways
Magistrate and mother kidnapped near Grenoble in a crypto-linked ransom plot€1.6M cryptocurrency demand made, but no ransom was paidVictims escaped after 30 hours; six suspects arrestedCase adds to rise in violent “wrench attacks” in France
The abduction occurred during the night of February 4–5, 2026, in Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux, near Grenoble. According to investigators, masked attackers broke into the home of a 35-year-old magistrate at around 3:00 a.m. The woman and her 67-year-old mother were overpowered, forced into the trunk of a car, and driven approximately 100 kilometers to Bourg-lès-Valence.
The victims were held for nearly 30 hours inside a garage, restrained and under constant threat, before managing to escape.
Crypto-Linked Ransom Demand
Authorities believe the motive was financial and directly linked to cryptocurrency. The magistrate was targeted because her partner holds a senior position at a cryptocurrency startup. Shortly after the kidnapping, the partner received a photograph of the two women along with a ransom demand of €1.6 million, payable in cryptocurrency.
The message reportedly included threats of severe physical harm if the transfer was not made quickly. No ransom was ultimately paid.
Escape and Medical Treatment
On February 6, the two women managed to free themselves from their restraints and began banging on the garage door and screaming for help. A nearby resident heard the commotion and alerted emergency services.
Both victims were hospitalized suffering from injuries and shock. Prosecutors said the magistrate sustained head injuries during the abduction.
Arrests and Suspects in Custody
Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran confirmed that six suspects are currently being held in custody. Most of those arrested are between 18 and 20 years old. One of the suspects is a minor.
Two individuals were arrested while attempting to flee France by bus toward Spain. A woman taken into custody is believed to be the partner of one of the four male suspects. Investigators continue to examine the group’s roles and any wider criminal connections.
Rising Concern Over “Wrench Attacks”
The case adds to a growing list of so-called “wrench attacks” in France, where criminals resort to physical violence and kidnapping to extort cryptocurrency rather than relying on digital hacks.
In January 2026, a retired couple in Haute-Savoie was abducted after attackers discovered their son worked in the crypto sector, with a ransom demand of €8 million. A year earlier, in January 2025, a co-founder of hardware wallet firm Ledger was kidnapped, during which attackers severed one of his fingers before he was rescued.
French authorities have warned that individuals linked to the cryptocurrency industry are increasingly being targeted offline, underscoring the escalating security risks tied to digital wealth.
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Alexey Pertsev, the founder of the cryptocurrency anonymization service Tornado Cash, is facing charges from Dutch authorities for alleged involvement in laundering a sum of $1.2 billion.
Alexey Pertsev Accused of Over Thirty Illegal Acts
Tornado Cash is increasingly coming under scrutiny for its association with cryptocurrency crime, rather than providing intended services. Dutch investigators have been tracking Pertsev in connection with a series of investigations, including 36 suspicious transactions. Among the most prominent was 175 ETH transferred from the Ronin Bridge crypto protocol, linked to Axie Infinity.
Other illegal transactions subject to Dutch prosecutors' charges include transactions via decentralized protocols Harmony and Nomad Bridge.
Keith Cheng, lawyer for Alexey Pertsev, stated that "prosecutors accuse Pertsev of money laundering and generally describe it, but do not specify the specific acts allegedly committed."
Dutch authorities, however, strongly accuse Pertsev of involvement in money laundering. This claim gains weight considering that Pertsev was arrested in August 2022 by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) on suspicion of laundering $7 billion in cryptocurrencies.
OFAC Sanctions Against Tornado Cash
Before Pertsev's arrest, Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury for involvement in money laundering totaling several billion dollars. Among the organizations accused of using Tornado Cash services was the North Korean hacking group Lazarus.
Pertsev was arrested shortly after these sanctions, but was later released on bail. In August of the following year, he was arrested again, this time on charges of money laundering, with the arrest conducted by the FBI. This occurred at a time when the cryptographic detective ZachXBT reported tracking a suspicious wallet linked to Tornado Cash since the beginning of 2023.
Since his first arrest in 2022, Pertsev has vehemently denied any involvement in money laundering or violations of money laundering laws.
The trial of Alexey Pertsev is scheduled for March 26 in the Netherlands.
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