Seoul Police Fail to Audit $1.6M in Missing Bitcoin, No Officers Held Accountable

According to Chosun Ilbo reported by PANews on June 24, Seoul's Gangnam Police failed to conduct an internal audit on 22 BTC (approximately $1.6 million) lost from evidence storage and took no disciplinary action against responsible officers. The bitcoin was seized during a financial hacking investigation in November 2021 and stored on a cold wallet USB device. When evidence was inspected in 2022, authorities discovered the wallet had been emptied.

The police acknowledged they should have transferred the asset to a police-controlled cold wallet but did not. The department claimed relevant guidelines had not been established at the time; however, Chosun Ilbo found that Gangnam Police internally discussed safer custody methods as early as July 2021 but did not adopt them.