20% of South Korean Officers Maintain Crypto, Seoul Councilor Leads with $1.16M

A current asset disclosure by South Korea’s Public Officers Digital Property Rank Record revealed that 20.1% of high-ranking public officers maintain crypto, with their whole reported holdings amounting to $9.83 million.

The official with the biggest digital asset portfolio was Seoul Metropolis Council Member Kim Hye-young, who declared $1.16 million in digital belongings.

The Rankings

The March 27 report revealed that of the two,047 state officers required to reveal their holdings, 411 reported proudly owning digital belongings, with a mean holding of $23,000 per particular person. Kim Hye-young topped the checklist, declaring possession of 16 completely different cryptocurrencies, together with 0.00144591 BTC.

The federal government official additionally reported belongings held by her members of the family, together with her partner’s 0.01226935 ETH, 472 DOGE, 519,004 XRP, and her eldest son’s 3,336 XRP.

Seoul Metropolis Councilor Choi Min-gyu got here in second, reporting $1.06 million in digital belongings, consisting of roughly 409,551 XRP, 9,402 ART, and 4,701 ADS. The third-largest holding was declared by Kim Ki-hwan, CEO of Busan-Ulsan Expressway Co., Ltd., who has $940,000 in crypto, together with 152,251 LUNC, 5,979 HORUS, 1,989 HORUS, and a couple of,989 BLACK.

Different civil servants among the many high ten crypto holders included Kim Dae-hwan, Secretary Normal of the Labor-Administration Growth Basis, with $1.369 million, Oh Moon-kyo, President of the Korean Nationwide Police College, with $656,680, and Park Chun, President of Jeonju Nationwide College of Training, with $461,250.

Additionally listed had been Gyeonggi Provincial Meeting Members Choi Yong, holding $431,110, and Lee Oh-soo, with $288,150, together with Ryu Hyeong-ju, Vice President of the Korea Water Sources Company ($324,530), and Park Yong-seon, Gyeongsangbuk-do Assemblyman, who owns $270,350 in crypto.

Crypto Disclosure Coverage and Market Progress

Digital belongings grew to become a compulsory merchandise in public servants’ asset disclosures final yr, with this being the second yr such knowledge has been launched.

Beneath the coverage, officers of Grade 4 or larger should declare the kind and amount of digital belongings they personal. Grade 1 employees or larger should additionally submit particulars on how they acquired their holdings and their transaction historical past for the previous yr.

These measures, led by the Authorities Public Ethics Committee, had been applied as South Korea skilled a rise in crypto possession. A report from November 2024 indicated that greater than 15.5 million of its residents, roughly 30% of the inhabitants, held digital belongings. The variety of buyers additionally rose by 610,000 between October and November 2024.