Gov't to strengthen oversight of virtual assets under custody following breaches

▲ The Ministry of Finance and Economy (Yonhap)

govt-virtual assets

Gov't to strengthen oversight of virtual assets under custody following breaches

By Kim Han-joo

SEOUL, April 10 (Yonhap) -- The government will adopt a system to better manage virtual assets under its custody following a series of security breaches, the finance ministry said Friday.

The plan was finalized during an emergency economic meeting presided over by Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, following repeated incidents of asset leaks partly attributed to staff shortages and poor management.

As of Monday, the central government held approximately 78 billion won (US$53 million) worth of virtual assets seized or frozen during investigations and tax collection processes. The assets are temporarily held before a final disposition, such as confiscation or sale, or before being converted into cash.

By agency, the National Tax Service (NTS) held 52.1 billion won, followed by the prosecution with 23.4 billion won, the Korean National Police Agency with 2.2 billion won and the Korea Customs Service with 300 million won.

In February, the NTS said that mnemonic codes used to recover virtual assets were leaked, resulting in the theft of about 4 million PRTG tokens, estimated to be worth several million won.

The Gangnam Police Station also belatedly discovered that 22 bitcoins worth about 2.1 billion won had been stolen.

Under the plan, the government will introduce a comprehensive management system covering all stages, from acquisition to post-incident responses.

Incidents caused by violations of regulations will result in criminal complaints and disciplinary measures against those responsible.

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