South Korean Judges Hold Bitcoin and Altcoins, Disclosures Show

Last updated: March 28, 2024, 7:30 p.m. EDT | 1 minute reading

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Several senior South Korean judges hold Bitcoin, Ethereumand altcoins, new public data revealed on March 28.

By NoCut NewsJudges’ holdings through December 31, 2023 included BTC, ETH, XRPAnd Solana coins.

Trading volumes on South Korean market leader Upbit crypto exchange over the past two weeks. (Source: CoinGecko)

South Korean judges make first crypto disclosures – the details

A long-running scandal dubbed Coin Gate by South Korean media broke out last year. This initially centered on a lawmaker who allegedly sold coins after receiving inside information about upcoming regulatory changes.

Since then, the scale of the scandal has increased. extended to other legislators. It also extended to senior officials and prominent members of the judiciary.

This led the Supreme Court to rule that high-ranking judges must make annual public statements about their holdings and other assets to avoid possible conflicts of interest.

Judges’ declarations must also include the spouses’ assets. They must also include details of wallets held in their children’s names.

Cheongju District Court Chief Judge Lim Byeong-ryeol reported the largest Bitcoin holdings. Lim and his family reported holding 9.92 BTC, with 3.38 BTC in wallets under his name.

Lim’s wife and eldest son hold the remaining 6.54 BTC in wallets in their names.

Lim’s wife and son also reported holding smaller amounts of altcoins “such as Ethereum, Solana and XRP” in private wallets.

Documents show that the dependents of Seoul High Court Chief Justice Hwang Byeong-ha also reported holding 2.07 BTC.

Kim Bok-hyung, another chief judge of the Seoul High Court, revealed crypto holdings worth around $2,200.

Meanwhile, Seoul Bankruptcy Court Chief Judge Ahn Byeong-wook and National Judicial Administration Deputy Director Bae Hyeong-won also revealed that the wallets in their children’s names “contained also crypto assets.”

The children of Supreme Court Justices Roh Tae-ak, Kwon Young-jun and Shin Sook-hee also reported owning cryptoassets, Joongang Ilbo reported.

Judges hold unlisted stocks, cryptocurrencies and foreign stocks

Judges were also forced to reveal their total assets, with data showing that several judges hold unlisted domestic stocks, as well as foreign stocks.

South Korea’s top judges seemed particularly interested in blue-chip U.S. stocks. Several reported owning shares in companies like Amazon, Apple, Tesla and Nvidia.

Earlier this month, the operator of a South Korean law firm was sent to prison for stealing clients’ money to spend on private crypto investments.

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