The South Korean government has distributed $15 million in debt relief funds, originally intended to support small businesses, to cryptocurrency holders.

According to DL News, a South Korean Financial Supervisory Service audit revealed that the "New Start Fund," designed to help small businesses struggling after the pandemic, provided over $15 million in debt relief to 269 individual cryptocurrency traders. The audit revealed that one individual who received $62,350 in debt relief (a 77% reduction) held approximately $307,000 worth of cryptocurrency at the time. Shin Jin-chang, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, stated that the screening criteria for beneficiaries will be strengthened, but acknowledged that only legal amendments can fundamentally prevent such situations. Currently, the fund's operator, the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO), cannot proactively check whether applicants hold cryptocurrency assets unless they voluntarily declare it. A proposed amendment currently under review in the National Assembly, if passed, would authorize KAMCO to verify beneficiaries' holdings of unlisted stocks and cryptocurrency assets without their consent. In recent years, South Korea has gradually authorized tax and local government departments to check and freeze the cryptocurrency assets of citizens with outstanding taxes and fees.