10-10-2025 – South Korea’s National Tax Service has announced it will seize cryptocurrency held in cold wallets as part of an expanded enforcement campaign against tax evasion, marking a significant escalation in the government’s approach to digital asset compliance.
Tax officials confirmed they are authorized to conduct home searches and confiscate hardware wallets and hard drives when they suspect taxpayers are hiding assets offline. Under the National Tax Collection Act, authorities can already request account data from domestic exchanges, freeze trading accounts, and liquidate holdings to satisfy unpaid tax bills. The move to target cold storage devices represents a new frontier in tax enforcement, acknowledging that self-custody solutions—while secure—can also facilitate asset concealment.
The aggressive stance comes as South Korea’s crypto market has exploded in size. The country now has nearly 11 million cryptocurrency investors, an 800% jump since 2020, with daily trading volumes surging from $730 million to $4.7 billion over the same period. This rapid growth has been accompanied by rising tax evasion, prompting intensified enforcement. Since 2021, tax authorities have seized and liquidated $108 million in digital assets, including $50 million in the first major operation alone.
