Bitcoin Heist to Payday: South Korean Prosecutors Turn Phished Coins Into Cash

The Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office sold off all of 320 (BTC) recovered from hackers and returned them to the national treasury.

The re-recovered Bitcoin were liquidated on a domestic exchange and converted into roughly ₩31 billion that have now been transferred to the National Treasury. Prosecutors stress they executed the sale gradually over 11 days, from February 24 to March 6, to avoid disturbing the market price, while an internal probe into how the assets were lost in the first place is still ongoing

For traders, the Gwangju sale is another reminder that law‑enforcement liquidations are now a structural source of BTC supply, and for policymakers, it underscores that seizing coins is only half the battle: securing them and exiting positions without roiling markets is quickly becoming a new kind of sovereign market risk.

Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview