I just saw a news story that well summarizes the chaos in state management of cryptocurrencies. South Korea is urgently revising its custody protocols after the National Tax Service accidentally leaked a wallet recovery phrase. Yes, you read that right — a government agency published the access key to a confiscated wallet.

The result? About 4 million PRTG tokens were moved immediately after the leak, with a theoretical value of around $4.8 million. Someone gained access and, interestingly, returned the assets the next day — at least that’s what the police are investigating. But the fact is that security completely failed.

And this is not an isolated case. Since the beginning of the year, there have been reports of seized cryptocurrencies going missing. 22 bitcoins disappeared from a safe in a Gangnam police station. Losses have also been recorded in prosecutors’ offices. It’s kind of a pattern indeed.

The finance minister promised inspections and new security measures, but without detailing exactly what will be done or when. It’s hard to trust state custody of digital assets when you see this history. The question is: incompetence or negligence?