South Korea Develops Guidelines for Managing Anonymous Virtual Currencies

South Korea's National Police Agency has drafted new guidelines for managing virtual assets, including anonymous cryptocurrencies, according to ChainCatcher. These guidelines aim to regulate software wallets, known as hot wallets, which are often used for transactions that are difficult to trace. Anonymous cryptocurrencies have been linked to criminal activities such as the 'Nth Room' case and money laundering by North Korea. Over the past five years, South Korean police have seized virtual assets valued at approximately 54.5 billion Korean won, with Bitcoin accounting for about 50.7 billion won and Ethereum around 1.8 billion won. The police agency plans to select private custodians by mid-year, although previous attempts to do so have failed due to budget constraints of only 83 million won and the limited size of qualified institutions. Experts recommend establishing a government-led unified custody system to mitigate security vulnerabilities and internal risks.