You’ve probably seen this story—South Korea has just gone through a real panic moment regarding the custody of cryptocurrencies seized by the state. And honestly, it’s quite concerning.

It all began when the National Tax Service made a monumental mistake: they accidentally published the recovery phrase of a confiscated wallet in a press release. Result? About 4 million PRTG tokens were transferred shortly afterward. Theoretically, that represented $4.8 million, but since PRTG has very limited liquidity, the actual impact remains unclear. One person even admitted to having accessed the funds after seeing the phrase that was exposed, and returned them the next day.

Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol announced that the government will conduct an urgent review of all custody protocols for seized cryptocurrencies. Collaboration with the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service to verify the status and management of digital assets held by public institutions. Measures to strengthen security are planned, but no specific details have been provided yet.

But wait—this isn’t an isolated case. There were also 22 BTC that disappeared from a safe at the Gangnam police station. Losses were also recorded at the district prosecutor’s office. This creates a real pattern of incompetence or negligence in the state custody chains.

What strikes me is that these incidents raise serious questions about how governments manage seized digital assets. Between the leak of PRTG and the disappearances of BTC, public trust in government handling of cryptocurrencies is taking a major hit in South Korea. Authorities will really need to strengthen their security protocols if they want to regain public confidence.