South Korean Customs focuses on combating cryptocurrency crimes, investigating nearly $600 million in illegal transactions

South Korea’s customs agency announced today that the funds involved in its seizure of “cryptocurrency crimes” reached $600 million.

Fighting cryptocurrency crime

According to Reuters, the Korea Customs Service (KCS) announced that it had seized 637.5 billion won, or $594 million, from cryptocurrency crimes. It is reported that the funds were suspected of illegal foreign exchange transactions.

KCS’s responsibilities include keeping society away from illegal overseas transactions. The announcement detailed a specific case in which a Korean investor invested nearly 2 billion won in cryptocurrencies, which were then sent overseas through a “virtual wallet” and then returned in the form of legal currency, an unrecorded capital outflow.

KCS said it will continue to closely monitor illegal foreign exchange transactions and money laundering activities involving cryptocurrencies. Reuters further noted:

South Korea’s customs agency said 472.3 billion won of illegal foreign exchange transactions were the main form of cryptocurrency crime, but it did not specify how such crimes would be punished.

The customs report mentioned:

In addition, other forms of crime include investors in Japan transferring 53.7 billion won to their partners in South Korea for illegal currency transactions.

The incidents come amid a cryptocurrency frenzy in South Korea, where New York regulators yesterday demanded that cryptocurrency trading data be shared with South Korea. In addition, new rules for cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea have come into effect, aimed at completely eliminating anonymous transactions.

Still need to wait

Even the Blue House in South Korea has issued a notice mentioning the involvement of public officials in cryptocurrency investment. Even if it is not directly banned, foreigners will be restricted from participating in cryptocurrency transactions in South Korea, including Korean card companies.

At the end of last year, the Korean market was in a panic, fearing that regulators would completely ban cryptocurrencies. Although it was finally confirmed that it was just the personal opinion of the Minister of Finance, it caused a sharp drop in the price of the currency, and the Korean people also protested, demanding that the government not interfere in cryptocurrency transactions.

As East Asia’s fourth-largest economy, South Korea is clearly a heavyweight in the cryptocurrency space. It is unclear how the country’s market will react to the news that the country’s customs agency said it will keep a close eye on illegal currency transactions or money laundering involving cryptocurrencies.