Regarding the incident where the Seoul Gangnam Police Station lost 22 Bitcoins (worth approximately 2.2 billion won) that it had secured and stored as evidence, Chosun Ilbo exclusively reported that the police did not conduct a separate inspection or disciplinary procedure for those responsible for managing the evidence. The Gangnam Police Station received 22 Bitcoins voluntarily submitted by the informant's side and stored them while investigating a financial hacking case related to virtual assets around November 2021. The Gangnam Police Station stored these Bitcoins on a USB containing a ‘cold wallet (offline electronic wallet)’ owned by Mr. Lee, the informant. However, during an inspection of seized items in 2022, it was belatedly confirmed that while the ‘cold wallet’ remained, the Bitcoins stored inside it had disappeared. It was confirmed that no separate inspection or disciplinary procedure was taken against the Gangnam Police Station employees who were responsible for managing the seized items at the time.
