Again. For the second time in a month, South Korean authorities lost confiscated bitcoin: 22 BTC vanished from a police USB wallet. The amount—just $1.5M—misses the point. The wallet sat untouched for four years after an investigation was suspended. Device still there. Coins? Gone. Like finding an open safe with nothing inside.
This isn't one officer's negligence. It's institutional collapse. Courts treat crypto as property to seize—but officials handle it like loose change. Hardware wallets without multisig, passwords stored nearby, zero audits. Real custodians would cringe.
Last month prosecutors lost $48M. I thought it was a fluke. Now it's a pattern: authorities lack the infrastructure, expertise, and protocols to secure what they confiscate. And they wonder why markets distrust state custody?
Honest question: would you trust your life savings with a custodian that loses keys like car keys in a couch?
