South Korean police lose seized bitcoin held in cold wallet since 2021

The Seoul Gangnam Police Station has lost track of bitcoin (BTC) seized during an investigation, authorities have confirmed with The Block.

According to the police, a recent internal investigation found that 22 BTC, worth around $1.5 million, had been moved out of a USB cold wallet. Local news outlet Donga was the first to report the incident.

The bitcoin was surrendered to Gangnam police in November 2021, but the leak went undetected because the investigation had been suspended. Although the physical USB itself was never stolen, the bitcoin it held was successfully siphoned off.

The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency has launched an internal probe to determine the exact circumstances of the leak and whether there was any internal involvement. A representative of the agency declined to comment further on the ongoing investigation.

The leak was discovered during a nationwide inspection of investigative agencies, triggered by the recent loss of the seized 320 BTC at the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office. Local reports say the Gwangju investigators, who were in charge of evidence management, had the seized bitcoin drained after mistakenly accessing a phishing website.