South Korea to launch raids against tax evaders who operate with cryptocurrencies
By Angel Di Matteo @shadowargel
The tax regulator warned that it will launch raids against criminals, and they will be on the trail of cold wallets. It clarifies that these devices will no longer serve as a safe haven to evade taxes.
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- The authority may confiscate hard drives and physical devices with cryptocurrencies.
- Digital assets worth more than KRW 146.1 billion have been seized.
- Cryptocurrency crimes reach KRW 9.56 trillion as of 2021.
He National Tax Service (NTS) of South Korea issued a new warning to tax evaders who hide cryptocurrencies in cold wallets. The entity assured that even assets outside of online exchanges are not beyond its reach, and confirmed that it will carry out home inspections as part of its offensive against tax evasion.
The decision comes after years of difficulties in tracing assets hidden on foreign platforms and private devices. According to official data, the number of South Korean investors in virtual assets has multiplied by almost ten in five years, going from 1.2 million to 10.77 million at the end of June, reports Cryptopolitan.
The local media Hankook Ilbo reported that cryptocurrencies have become one of the main means of evading taxes, given their anonymous nature and the difficulty in tracing their owners. The authorities maintain that, unlike stock market or banking transactions, operations with digital assets present greater obstacles for supervision.
Expanded powers for National Tax Service
He NTS is empowered by the National Collection Law to request account information from local exchanges and freeze funds belonging to delinquent taxpayers. The institution plans to inspect homes and confiscate hard drives and storage devices if there are suspicions of evasion.
In 2021, the NTS seized cryptocurrencies on a large scale for the first time: a total of 71.2 billion won belonging to 5,741 high-value taxpayers. According to reports, inspectors can request data from exchanges KYC of evaders to identify and block their digital assets, by virtue of their “Inspection Rights” stipulated in tax legislation.
Representative Kim Young-jin of the Democratic Party of Korea, revealed that since 2021, digital assets have been confiscated from 14,140 defaulters, with a total value of KRW 146.1 billion.
Increase in financial crimes linked to cryptocurrencies
Supervision is not limited to taxes. According to data from Financial Supervision Servicethe volume of crypto assets transferred from domestic exchanges to cold wallets reached KRW 78.9 trillion in the first half of 2025.
In parallel, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) reported a sharp increase in reports of suspicious transactions. Between January and August 2025, virtual asset operators filed 36,684 reports, exceeding the combined total of the previous two years (35,734 cases).
He Korea Customs Service also warned that, between August 2021 and August 2025, cryptocurrency-related crimes amounted to KRW 9.5613 trillion, of which 90.2% corresponded to money laundering schemes. Last May, the entity caught an operator who illegally exchanged KRW 57.1 billion in cash—from a Russian importer—for its dollar equivalent to the stablecoin. Tether.
Stablecoin risks and legislative response
Legislator Seongjun Jin warned about the growing use of stablecoins as a means of payment in the real economy, warning that their adoption increases the risk of exchange crimes and money laundering.
“As stablecoins are increasingly used in real transactions, the potential for them to be used for international financial crimes also grows,” Jin explained.
The parliamentarian asked organizations such as the FIU and the Customs Service establish systematic measures to combat these new forms of financial crime, including tracking illicit funds and identifying disguised remittances.
With these measures, South Korea reinforces its position against evasion and financial crimes linked to the use of cryptocurrencies. The country, which is already among the largest digital asset markets in the world, seeks to consolidate a stricter framework that combines technological supervision, institutional coordination and effective sanctions.
Article written with the help of an AI content writer, edited by Angel Di Matteo / DailyBitcoin
Image generated with an AI tool, under a free use license
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