Seoul Prosecutors Charge Five in First DEX Rug Pull Case
Seoul prosecutors charged five people on May 27, 2026, in what they described as South Korea’s first criminal prosecution of a decentralized-exchange rug pull. The case centers on CATFI, a Solana-based memecoin, and signals a broader enforcement push into decentralized markets.
FSC Reviews Hana Bank’s Dunamu Stake Under Bank-Crypto Separation Rules
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is reviewing Hana Bank’s planned 6.55% stake in Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, after the bank announced the deal in mid-May. The investment, valued at roughly 1 trillion won, or about $668 million to $700 million, tests how far traditional banks can move into crypto infrastructure under Korea’s banking-commerce separation […]
Samsung SDS to Build South Korea’s Tokenized Securities Platform
Samsung SDS has secured a contract with the Korea Securities Depository to develop and operate a blockchain-based tokenized securities system, marking a shift from pilot testing to production infrastructure. The project, reported on May 6, 2026, is scheduled for completion in February 2027 and is designed to align with legal changes that recognize distributed ledgers […]
South Korean Prosecutors Seek 20 Years for Former Delio CEO
South Korean prosecutors have asked a court to sentence former Delio CEO Jeong Sang-ho to 20 years in prison, alleging he led a large-scale crypto fraud that caused roughly 250 billion won, or about $169 million to $181.5 million, in investor losses. The request, made during closing arguments at the Seoul Southern District Court, places […]
South Korea’s draft Digital Assets Act folded stablecoins and tokenized RWAs into existing finance laws
South Korea’s Democratic Party used its February 23, 2026 unified draft of the Digital Assets Basic Act to do something more consequential than propose another crypto bill: it tried to pull major segments of the digital-asset market back inside existing financial law. The draft treated won-pegged stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets as structures that should […]
South Korea’s $1T Pension Fund Boosted MicroStrategy Stake — Then Suffered Deep Crypto Losses
The National Pension Service (NPS), South Korea’s roughly $1 trillion public pension fund, increased its MicroStrategy (MSTR) position in Q4 2025 and then watched that indirect Bitcoin exposure deteriorate as crypto-linked equities sold off. The key takeaway is that second-order Bitcoin exposure can still deliver first-order volatility for institutions, even when the overall portfolio is […]
South Korean Man Indicted for Alleged Poisoning After ₩1.17 Billion Crypto Loss
A case headed to the Seoul Eastern District Court is drawing attention not because it involves a new token or a market collapse, but because of how violently a failed Bitcoin venture allegedly spilled into real life. Prosecutors say a 39-year-old man tried to kill his business partner after suffering steep losses tied to a […]
South Korea Fines Korbit $1.9M Over AML Breaches
South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) fined cryptocurrency exchange Korbit ₩2.73 billion (about $1.9 million) on December 31, 2025, and issued an institutional warning after a comprehensive compliance inspection. The FIU tied the action to documented failures in customer due diligence, risk assessments for new digital assets, and prohibited cross-border transfers, putting Korbit’s remediation path […]