In South Korea, the damage from cryptocurrency crimes amounted to $ 2.28 billion over two years

According to estimates by the South Korean Ministry of Justice, financial damage from crimes related to cryptocurrency was about $ 2.28 billion between July 2017 and June 2019.

The ministry said that during this period 132 criminals were detained who received prison sentences, and administrative punishments were imposed on another 288 fraudsters. In general, according to government estimates, cryptocurrency crimes have caused the country a loss of 2.69 trillion won (about $ 2.28 billion) over the past two years.

Although Justice Minister Park Sang-kim ordered strict measures against cryptocurrency fraudsters, the lack of clear rules for cryptocurrency exchanges led to an increase in the use of quasi-identical accounts. It is reported that, despite the ban on anonymous accounts in January last year, small exchanges began using special accounts to bypass regulation.

Exchanges that use such accounts keep users’ funds in corporate bank accounts, while maintaining the identity of their users in secret. The government reportedly offered to ban this practice, but the court stopped the initiative, saying that the government should not close corporate stock exchange accounts.

In May, it was reported that South Korea was concerned about the growth of the cryptocurrency market, and in December last year it became aware of the government’s plans to introduce taxation for cryptocurrency.