According to South Korea’s National Tax Service, officials plan to conduct home searches and seize offline crypto storage devices as part of a broader effort to combat tax evasion amid a surge in digital asset adoption.
South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) announced it will intensify enforcement against crypto-related tax evasion by targeting assets stored in cold wallets. Officials warned they can confiscate hardware wallets and hard drives during home searches if undeclared crypto assets are suspected. Under the National Tax Collection Act, the NTS can demand account data from exchanges, freeze accounts, and liquidate assets to recover unpaid taxes. Nearly 11 million South Koreans now invest in cryptocurrencies—an 800% increase since 2020—with daily trading volumes rising from 1 trillion to 6.4 trillion won. Since 2021, authorities have seized and liquidated $108 million worth of digital assets linked to tax evasion.