Ethereum Tokens Swiped, Returned After South Korean Tax Service Publishes Wallet Seed Phrases
South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) accidentally exposed hand-written crypto wallet seed phrases in a press release following a search and seizure targeting tax delinquents. This public disclosure allowed an unknown individual to access three wallets and transfer out 4 million Pre-Retogeum (PRTG) tokens, valued at $4.8 million at face value. The affected wallets, inactive since January 2023, held about 40% of the total PRTG supply, but the token is highly illiquid, with almost no trading volume and limited exchange support. Because selling the tokens on the open market would have yielded little due to poor liquidity, the stolen tokens were returned approximately 20 hours later. The incident follows a series of crypto mismanagement issues by South Korean authorities, including a prior loss of $1.4 million in BTC due to mishandled procedures and Bithumb’s erroneous distribution of $43 billion worth of Bitcoin, highlighting ongoing governance problems in the country’s management of digital assets.
