A South Korean National Tax Service official proposed revising the Criminal Procedure Act to strengthen rules for the seizure of personal holdings of virtual assets

PANews July 20 news: According to Digital Asset, a Korean National Tax Service official has proposed legislative amendments, arguing that it is necessary to revise the Criminal Procedure Act so that virtual assets (digital assets) held by individuals can be seized. “Individual holding of digital assets” means that the private keys are held directly by the individual, without entrusting a third party (such as an exchange) to custody or dispose of them.

This year in June, four people including Zhang Xiyuan, head of the National Tax Service investigation team, published a paper titled “Limitations and Legislative Review on the Execution of Seizure of Self-Custodied Virtual Assets” in the journal Criminal Policy Research of the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice. The paper explains that the requirements and procedures for transferring to public wallets or obtaining control must be specified separately. The paper first points out that when a suspect or owner holds access means such as a private key, the search warrant must clearly state the type and quantity of the digital assets to be seized; the verified addresses; the addresses to be transferred to; the transfer method; and the storage method after the transfer. In addition, due to the risk of theft if the assets are transferred to a wallet managed by a single institution, the paper proposes a method of transferring to a joint address jointly managed by the court and the investigation agencies.