The post Supreme Court Decision Expands Crypto Seizure Powers in South Korea appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

The South Korean Supreme Court ruled that Bitcoin on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges is subject to seizure under the Criminal Procedure Act. This means that digital assets that are maintained in exchange accounts can be seen as seizable property by the criminal justice system. South Korean Supreme Court makes historic ruling on Bitcoin seizure, ruling that Bitcoins in accounts on Korean cryptocurrency exchanges are subject to seizure under the Criminal Procedure Act, finally putting an end to questions about the treatment of cryptocurrency in criminal prosecutions after many years of legal limbo. The decision, dated December 11, 2025, and publicly announced at the beginning of 2026, is an outcome of a dispute originating from the seizure of 55.6 Bitcoin belonging to an individual from an account on a local Korean trading platform during the police investigation into a charge for money laundering. The defense’s appeal, raised on the proposition that Bitcoin is intangible and not subject to seizure as property, has been dismissed by the Supreme Court. In its ruling, the court explained that the scope of ‘seizable property,’ as defined under the Criminal Procedure Act, was not only limited to physical objects but also electronic data and other assets of economic value. The court found that since Bitcoin qualifies as an electronic token that could be ‘independently managed, traded, and economically controlled,’ it qualifies for seizure as part of criminal procedures. Justices Kwon Young-jun and his fellow judges confirmed that digital assets stored in custodial cryptocurrencies like Upbit and Bithumb exchange wallets are legitimate for confiscation under the law when the requisites for legal confiscation are fulfilled. Such an interpretation maintains the criminal law status accorded to virtual assets under the law in South Korea, which were already deemed to be non-tangible property with economic value by the courts. Implications…

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Filed under: News - @ January 10, 2026 3:20 am