South Korea ramps up crypto seizures, will target cold wallets

South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) is expanding its crackdown on tax evasion, warning that even crypto assets stored in cold wallets will be subject to seizure.

According to a report from local news outlet Hankook Ilbo, an NTS official said the agency is prepared to carry out home searches and confiscate hard drives and cold wallet devices if the agency suspects that tax delinquents are hiding their crypto assets offline.

“We analyze tax delinquents’ coin transaction history through crypto-tracking programs, and if there is suspicion of offline concealment, we will conduct home searches and seizures,” the NTS spokesperson reportedly said.

Under the country’s National Tax Collection Act, the NTS can request account information from local exchanges, freeze accounts from tax delinquents and liquidate their assets at market value to cover their unpaid taxes.

NTS seized and liquidated over $100 million in crypto in four years

A cold wallet is a crypto storage method that remains disconnected from the internet. This setup makes it more difficult for hackers to remotely access the funds. While it helps secure crypto assets, the NTS stated that it can also be used to conceal assets, making tax collection more challenging.

The statement marks a new phase in the agency’s enforcement strategy as cryptocurrency continues to gain mainstream adoption in the country.

Hankook Ilbo reported that the number of crypto investors in the country soared to nearly 11 million as of June, up nearly 800% from 1.2 million in 2020.

The outlet also said that trading volumes in the country climbed from 1 trillion won ($730 million) to 6.4 trillion won ($4.7 billion) in the same time period.

The surge in crypto adoption also led to an increase in crypto-related tax evasion cases in the country. The agency first began targeting tax evaders’ crypto assets in 2021, confiscating approximately $50 million from 5,700 suspects.

Since then, the NTS has accelerated its efforts and increased oversight in crypto use for tax evasion in the country. The report stated that over the last four years, the NTS seized and liquidated $108 million in cryptocurrency from more than 14,000 individuals.

Related: Korean retail capital driving Ether price, treasury demand: Samson Mow

Suspicious crypto transactions surge in 2025

The NTS eyeing cold wallets comes amid a surge in suspicious crypto transactions in 2025.

On Sept. 22, data from the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) showed that virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in the country filed nearly 37,000 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) as of August 2025.

STRs are one of the country’s key Anti-Money Laundering (AML) tools. According to the data, STRs filed in 2025 have already exceeded the combined totals of 2023 and 2024, hitting new record highs.

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