The South Korean police have arrested two suspects accused of stealing 22 bitcoins as evidence

According to The Block, the Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency in South Korea arrested two suspects in 2026 who are accused of stealing 22 bitcoins from the evidence storage of the Gangnam Police Station. This batch of bitcoins was originally seized in 2021 during the investigation of the "A Coin Foundation" hacking case.

According to the investigation, the police had not stored the assets in an officially regulated hardware wallet at the time, but instead used a cold wallet provided by the foundation, which allowed the suspects to illegally transfer the assets using the mnemonic phrase through information communication networks.

Currently, this batch of bitcoins, valued at approximately $1.5 million, has not been recovered. Additionally, the former officer responsible for the case at that time was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2024 for accepting bribes from the foundation.