Jeju Metropolis, within the South Korean island province of Jeju, has accomplished a crypto-themed investigation of virtually 3,000 residents with unpaid tax payments, seizing Bitcoin (BTC) and different cash from dozens of people.
The South Korean media outlet Newsis reported that tax delinquents within the metropolis have been “lining their pockets with cryptoassets.”
Jeju Crypto Crackdown on Tax Evaders
Jeju Metropolis authorities introduced on August 16 that tax officers have accomplished a “complete investigation.” Tax officers needed to find out if 2,962 people within the metropolis had crypto holdings.
South Korean legislation permits nationwide and native tax our bodies to require home crypto exchanges at hand over knowledge on prospects they think of tax evasion.
The people in query all owed the town greater than 1 million gained (over $719) in unpaid tax levies and fines.
In whole, the people’ excellent tax payments amounted to 19.7 billion gained ($14,171,845) in arrears.
The investigation noticed tax officers comb by way of knowledge handed over by the nation’s 4 largest crypto exchanges: Bithumb, Dunamu’s Upbit, Coinone, and Korbit.
The variety of households in Korea dwelling in rented properties is nearing 10 million, with greater than half concentrated within the larger Seoul space. Seoul is the one one of many nation’s 17 main areas during which greater than half of all households don't personal a house.https://t.co/xdxcxUcyd9
— The Korea JoongAng Day by day (@JoongAngDaily) August 17, 2025
Metropolis Begins Seizing Cash
The investigators confirmed that 49 of the people held cash in crypto wallets on the exchanges. The overall worth of this crypto was 230 million gained ($165,458), the town added.
The town has since used its energy to designated the exchanges as third-party debtors and has “begun procedures to freeze and seize their property.”
Jeju officers are more likely to then current the people with an ultimatum, telling them that if they don’t instantly settle their payments, the town will transfer to liquidate the cash.
The authorities additionally revealed that they used AI-powered instruments to assist them determine tax evaders and “hidden” cryptoassets. Jeju Metropolis’s tax chief Hwang Tae-hoon mentioned:
“We’ll proceed to bolster our response to tax evasion to uncover hidden property like crypto. We’ll do our greatest to trace down property belonging to high-value tax delinquents. We’ll use AI-based data evaluation. It will assist us increase tax revenues and foster a tradition of sincere tax cost.”
An analogous drive in Seoul’s prosperous Gangnam District has seen tax officers recoup over $144,000 to date this yr.
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