According to local news sources, authorities sold the confiscated Bitcoin in modest quantities over the course of 11 days so as not to disturb the market.
After a phishing attack took the cryptocurrency out of official custody for a short time, South Korean prosecutors sold 320.8 Bitcoin.
According to The Chosun Ilbo on Tuesday, the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office sold 320.8 Bitcoin (BTC $70,448) at market prices and sent 31.59 billion Korean won (approximately $21.5 million) to the national treasury.
Bitcoin Recovered After Phishing Incident
Reports say that the government sold the Bitcoin in little quantities over 11 days, from February 24 to March 6, to keep the market stable.
The Bitcoin was apparently taken from a suspect who was running an illegal gambling website that took bets worth roughly 390 billion won ($285 million) between 2018 and 2021.
A phishing assault earlier this year restored the stolen Bitcoin.
According to reports, prosecutors found out that the bitcoin had been lost during a custody handover in August 2025 when asset managers were deceived by a phishing website. Later, a hacker found the money in his wallet.
After officials ordered exchanges in the US and abroad to freeze the address, the Bitcoin went back to a government-controlled wallet on February 17. This made it hard to cash out the money.
On February 19, the Gwangju District Prosecutor’s Office reported that the hacker sent back 320.88 Bitcoin without warning. The authorities then moved the Bitcoin to a secure exchange wallet.
South Korean Courts Review Crypto Losses in Bankruptcy Cases
South Korean courts are rethinking how to handle crypto losses in cases of debt restructuring.
In other news from South Korea on cryptocurrencies, courts are allegedly rethinking how they deal with crypto-related debts in personal bankruptcy cases.
EToday, a local news source, said on Sunday that new rehabilitation courts in Daejeon, Daegu, and Gwangju are working on rules that would normally leave out losses from stock and cryptocurrency investments when figuring up liquidation value.
EToday said that the change will make crypto investment losses more like regular asset losses instead of speculative debts. This could lessen the amount of money people have to pay back when they are going through court-supervised debt restructuring.