22 BTC Missing from South Korean Police Cold Wallet

South Korean authorities are investigating the loss of 22 BTC, worth approximately $1.5 million, which were seized in 2021 and stored in a cold wallet at the Gangnam police station in Seoul.

The missing bitcoins were uncovered during a national audit of digital assets held by law enforcement, following a significant incident earlier this year where the Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office lost 320 BTC, valued at around $48 million, due to a security breach. This breach was reportedly caused by a phishing attack that compromised an employee's credentials.

In the Seoul case, it has been confirmed that the 22 BTC were transferred to an external address, though the physical USB device containing the assets remains intact.

In a notable legal development, the South Korean Supreme Court recently affirmed the legality of seizing bitcoins from exchange wallets in criminal cases, expanding the scope of asset confiscation beyond state benefit.

This incident follows a hacking event in November involving Upbit, the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange, which suffered a loss of $36.8 million due to internal system vulnerabilities.