Prosecutors in South Korea believe they will spend money on cryptocurrency surveillance technologies and utilize these creative solutions to stop money laundering, drug deals fueled by cryptocurrency, and selling premium kimchi. In order to “investigate cases involving cryptocurrencies,” the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office of the Republic of Korea (SPO) reportedly stated that it was prepared to purchase “tracking” software that would enable it to keep track of cryptocurrency transactions.
They expect the technologies to provide them to monitor exactly who, when, and where cryptocurrency is being sent.
Prosecutors also said that tools they would purchase could help them “extract correlation data in multiple transactions” and let them look at the wallet and exchange-related transaction histories. The media outlet explained that one of its new “trackers” is “capable of the real-time monitoring of transactions for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC).”
Prosecutors are looking into approximately $7 billion worth of crypto-related foreign currency transactions as they believe they may be unlawfully remitted funds. In their opinion, many of these were transferred abroad by unlicensed kimchi premium traders who bought bitcoins for cheap from over-the-counter dealers in China and Japan before “dumping” the coins on local exchanges for profits of 30% or more.
The dealers allegedly used the money to purchase semiconductors and precious metals from foreign suppliers while using “shell companies” as a front.
The number of domestic drug offenders exploiting crypto assets surged by almost 8 times from 2018 to at least 696 in August of this year, according to statistics gathered by the National Police Agency and made public by MP Kang Seon-woo of the Democratic Party.
The prosecution is also eager to dismantle drug trafficking networks that use Telegram and other portals to transact drugs.