[Exclusive] Police to Expand Use of Virtual Asset Tracking Program... Requesting 1.1 Billion Won Budget

Strengthening Response to Virtual Asset-Related Crimes
Cross-Verification with Current Programs
Requesting 1.1 Billion KRW Budget from Ministry of Economy and Finance

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Jang Sehee and Jo Seongpil] The police are set to introduce additional virtual asset tracking programs, including Bitcoin, to combat crimes related to virtual assets.

According to a comprehensive report by Asia Economy on the 3rd, the National Police Agency recently requested a budget of 1.1 billion KRW from the Ministry of Economy and Finance for a contract with the virtual asset information company 'CipherTrace'. Once inter-departmental consultations are completed, this will be reflected in next year's National Police Agency budget. The National Police Agency cited this company as an example, and if the related budget is allocated, a specific company will be selected through the Public Procurement Service.

The police currently use the global virtual asset transaction analysis and forensic program from the blockchain data analysis company Chainanalysis. A National Police Agency official stated, "If only one type of tracking tool or program is used, some aspects may be missed, so cross-verification is necessary," adding, "Some programs track only Bitcoin, while others track Bitcoin, Monero, and other assets. Increasing the number of companies can help uncover additional criminal proceeds that were previously undetected."

Virtual assets like Bitcoin have posed challenges for fund tracking due to their intangible nature and anonymous transactions over the internet. They have often been exploited for laundering illegal funds from scams or drug trades. Recently, as interest in virtual asset investment has grown, scams using these assets as bait have increased. The damage from virtual asset-related crimes rose approximately 6.7 times from 467.4 billion KRW in 2017 to 3.1282 trillion KRW last year. The number of victims also increased from 1,317 in 2017 to 8,891 last year.

There have been limitations in tracking the proceeds of virtual asset crimes. While transactions through exchanges are trackable, transactions from personal wallet to personal wallet are virtually untraceable, posing difficulties for investigations. A police official said, "Since virtual assets worldwide are not yet regulated, systematic management is difficult," and added, "If management becomes transparent, especially regarding accounts used for criminal purposes, it will ease investigative challenges."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.