South Korea’s customs authorities said Monday they have uncovered an international crime ring accused of laundering about 148.9 billion won ($101.7 million) in cryptocurrency through unauthorized foreign exchange schemes.
Three Chinese nationals have been referred to prosecutors for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, according to the Korea Customs Service (KCS).
How the Scheme Worked
The operation ran from September 2021 to June 2025. Authorities say the suspects purchased crypto assets across multiple countries, transferred them into South Korean wallets, converted them to Korean won, and then spread the funds across numerous domestic bank accounts.
To slip past financial regulators, they disguised the transfers as legitimate expenses like cosmetic surgery fees for foreign patients and overseas tuition payments for students.
The multi-country wallet strategy made the funds nearly impossible to trace through traditional monitoring systems.
Also Read: South Korea Reports Record 36K+ Suspicious Crypto Transactions in 2025
South Korea’s Crypto Landscape
The crackdown lands at a turning point for South Korea’s crypto policy.
Just last week, regulators moved to end the country’s nine-year ban on corporate crypto investment. Under new guidelines, listed companies can invest up to 5% of their equity capital in the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap on South Korea’s five major exchanges.
Days after that, the National Assembly passed amendments to the Capital Markets Act and Electronic Securities Act, creating a legal framework for tokenized securities and smart contract use.
What This Signals
Together, these developments highlight South Korea’s evolving crypto stance: broader access and innovation on one side, and stricter enforcement on illicit cross-border flows on the other.
This is the start of a more structured crypto future.
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