South Korean officials hold cryptocurrency, and Seoul MPs pay $1.16 million

A recent asset disclosure on the virtual assets ranking list of South Korean public officials shows that 20.1% of senior public officials hold cryptocurrencies, with a total reported holding of $9.83 million.

Officials on the largest virtual asset portfolio are Seoul City Councilman Kim Hye-Young, who announced a digital asset of $1.16 million.

Ranking

The March 27 report showed that its holdings were disclosed among 2,047 state officials, with 411 reporting virtual assets, with an average of $23,000 per person. Kim Hye-Young ranked first, announcing ownership of 16 different cryptocurrencies, including 0.00144591 BTC.

The government official also reported assets held by her family, including spouse’s 0.01226935 ETH, 472 Doges, 519,004 XRP, and her eldest son’s 3,336 XRP.

Seoul City Councilman Choi Min-gyu ranked second, reporting $1.06 million in digital assets, including approximately 409,551 XRP, 9,402 ART and 4,701 ads. The third largest holding company is Busan-Ulsan Expressway Co., Ltd. CEO Kim Ki-Hwan announced his cryptocurrency is $940,000, which includes 152,251 Lunc, 5,979 Horus, 1,989 Horus and 2,989 Black.

Other civil servants in the top ten cryptocurrency holders include Kim Dae-Hwan, Secretary General of the Labor Management Development Foundation, Oh Moon-kyo, President of the South Korean National Police University, with $1.369 billion, $656,680, and Jeonju National University of Education of Education of Education of Education of Park Chun, with $461,1,250.

Also listed are Gyeonggi Provincial Council Member Choi Yong, who holds $431,110, Lee Oh-Soo, and $288,150, as well as Ryu Hyeong-Ju (324,530) ($324,530), and Gry-seon, gyeon-seon, Gryeongsangbuk-do, and 270 $27,30 ins Blosblys, for a combined $27,30.

Crypto Disclosure Policy and Market Growth

Last year, virtual assets became a mandatory project for the disclosure of civil servant assets, and this is the data released in the second year.

Under this policy, a 4th grade or higher officer must declare the type and quantity of virtual assets they own. Grade 1 workers or higher must also submit detailed information on how they acquire their shares and their transaction history in the past year.

These measures, led by the Government’s Public Ethics Committee, were implemented as ownership in South Korea increased. A November 2024 report shows that more than 15.5 million citizens (about 30% of the population) own digital assets. The number of investors also increased by 610,000 between October and November 2024.