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According to Digital Asset, the Financial Services Commission of South Korea plans to expand the scope of the regulatory sandbox to include the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. This move is part of a broader plan aimed at preparing the future of the financial industry by expanding services to reflect changes in the financial environment and market demands.At a recent event hosted by Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Ik-yeon, the Commission stated that it will continue to explore and incorporate laws related to emerging fields and services, such as the Internet Banking Act and the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, into the regulatory sandbox.

According to Digital Asset, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea proposed at the FATF plenary meeting to expand the applicability of the virtual asset Travel Rule to small transactions and suggested implementing transaction restrictions on high-risk unregistered virtual asset service providers.The South Korean delegation emphasized that as the money laundering risks associated with cross-border digital asset transactions increase, member countries should apply the Travel Rule to both sending and receiving VASPs and expand its applicability to small transactions. In response to the increasing cases of criminal organizations utilizing overseas and unregistered VASPs, South Korea recommended strengthening customer identification obligations and considering transaction restrictions on high-risk unregistered VASPs.The FIU had previously advanced similar regulatory measures in the amendment to the enforcement decree of the Specific Financial Information Act, which is planned to be implemented in August, expanding the applicability of the Travel Rule from transactions over 1 million won to those under 1 million won.

According to Edaily, the South Korean "Abolition of Virtual Asset (Cryptocurrency) Tax" national petition has received 58,571 approvals. According to the National Assembly Act, the relevant petition should be submitted for review at the first committee meeting held after 30 days of being handed over to the committee.According to the current income tax law, starting from January 1 next year, income from the transfer or lending of virtual assets will be classified as other income and will be subject to income tax. Virtual asset income exceeding 2.5 million won (approximately 1,800 USD) will be subject to a total tax rate of 22%, which includes other income tax (20%) and local income tax (2%).

The WeChat public account of the Chinese prosecutor published an article titled "Research on Foreign-Related Cases | Key Points for Cross-Border Electronic Evidence Collection in Virtual Currency Money Laundering Crimes," which pointed out that when handling virtual currency money laundering cases, one should use the virtual currency wallet address as a breakthrough point, apply blockchain technology to analyze on-chain data characteristics and the flow of funds, and identify money laundering activities conducted through virtual currencies to achieve precise strikes.The article proposed that the evidence collection model should be built around two core proof elements: identity relevance and transaction relevance, establishing a "domestic evidence collection as the basis, cross-border evidence collection as a supplement" approach, and standardizing the applicable boundaries of unilateral evidence collection and bilateral judicial assistance to enhance the efficiency of cross-border evidence collection.For third-party entities such as exchanges, wallet service providers, and payment channels, the article suggested establishing "elemental" retrieval standards, focusing on obtaining KYC information and change records, login logs, device and IP information, two-factor authentication records, deposit and withdrawal records, on-chain addresses, transaction hashes, as well as risk control and freezing records, to establish the relationship of "address---account---natural person."

According to South Korean media SBS Biz, South Korea is considering allowing various parties, including exchanges and fintech companies, to participate in the upcoming virtual asset overseas remittance business system. This system is expected to be implemented in December this year. Relevant individuals revealed that the government has recently begun drafting the implementation details of the partial amendment to the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act and is reviewing the registration requirements for virtual asset transfer businesses.The core content of the amendment is to include cross-border virtual asset transfers within the regulatory framework of the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, defining it as "virtual asset transfer business." Companies intending to engage in virtual asset transfer business must register with the Office of the Minister of Economy and Finance of South Korea and report relevant information through the foreign exchange computer network of the Bank of Korea when cross-border transfer transactions occur. Previously, cross-border virtual asset transactions had been outside the foreign exchange regulatory framework, raising concerns that these transactions could be used for illegal foreign exchange trading or money laundering activities. This system improvement aims to incorporate virtual asset transfer transactions into the management and regulatory system.

According to the Korea Herald, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Wide Area Crime Investigation Team has dismantled two organizations involved in money laundering using virtual assets, with a total amount involved exceeding 14 billion Korean won. One organization consists of nine individuals, including a Chinese suspect A (45 years old), who were instructed by a Cambodian telecom fraud group. From February 2024 to April 2025, they purchased USDT through overseas exchanges and transferred it between domestic and foreign exchanges, laundering approximately 14 billion Korean won in total. The organization charged a fee of 650 million Korean won, and the main suspects have been transferred to the prosecution, with two individuals arrested, and the leader Y (29 years old) has been issued a red notice by Interpol.The other organization, consisting of 14 individuals, directly participated in laundering the proceeds from the Cambodian romance scam, with an amount involved of approximately 2.8 billion Korean won. In addition, another 33 individuals have been transferred to the prosecution for allegedly providing unlicensed virtual currency exchange services to foreign tourists (involving 6.3 billion Korean won).

According to Xinhua Daily, the police in Ya'an, Sichuan have cracked a cross-border online pornography crime case. The involved pornographic comic website "Shameful Color Comics" profited by inducing teenagers to frequently make small payments, with the website receiving over 100 million visits and a financial flow exceeding 12 million yuan (approximately 1.66 million USD). The police found that individuals within the country received the illicit funds through multiple companies and personal accounts, and that Li Mouwu and others transferred the money abroad using virtual currency.Recently, the People's Court of Ming Mountain District in Ya'an City sentenced five defendants for the crimes of profiting from the distribution of obscene materials and assisting in information network crime activities. Judicial authorities are still investigating the foreign financial backers behind the website.

According to local media in Hong Kong, on June 5, the Hong Kong police received a report from a man who claimed that he was scammed out of 1.6 million USDT by a counterfeit exchange while exchanging virtual currency, which is worth approximately 14 million Hong Kong dollars. After preliminary investigation, the police classified the case as "obtaining property by deception" and handed it over to the 10th team of the Mong Kok District Criminal Investigation Unit for follow-up, with no arrests made yet. The police remind citizens that obtaining property by deception is a serious crime, and upon conviction, the maximum penalty can be imprisonment for fourteen years.

Bitget announced that it has officially completed the registration as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (PSAV) with the National Securities Commission (CNV) of Argentina, becoming one of the compliant registered virtual asset service entities in the country.Argentina is one of the most active cryptocurrency markets in Latin America. Industry reports indicate that nearly 20% of the local population is using digital assets, and over 15,000 businesses support cryptocurrency payments. As the demand for financial infrastructure and access to global markets continues to grow, Argentina has become an important strategic market for digital asset platforms.Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated, "The regulatory framework for digital assets in Latin America is continuously improving. Completing the PSAV registration will help Bitget establish a more long-term local market foundation in Argentina and provide local users with a compliant and secure service experience."

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has listed three "exiovip" related websites as suspicious virtual asset trading platforms, according to a report from the licensed virtual asset trading platform EXIO Limited. One of the websites is a fraudulent site, and the other two websites have no connection to EXIO Limited.In addition, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has also listed "chenguanginvestment" as a suspicious website, clarifying that this website has no connection to the licensed institution Capital International.

According to a report by Bloomvingbit, the South Korean Ministry of Finance and Economy stated that tokenized stocks are considered securities rather than virtual assets. If the Financial Services Commission confirms their securities nature, taxes can be imposed immediately under the current Capital Markets Act, potentially as early as the second half of this year. Officials from the Ministry of Finance pointed out that although tokenized stocks are formally virtual assets, they are essentially closer to securities.The Financial Services Commission has previously clarified in its token securities guidelines that token securities are securities issued in the form of digital assets and fall under the jurisdiction of the Capital Markets Act. Currently, the market generally believes that tokenized stocks are classified as virtual assets (non-taxable assets) and can enjoy tax exemption until the implementation of virtual asset taxation next year. However, the Ministry of Finance emphasizes its stance on taxation and is establishing an information exchange system with overseas tax authorities such as the IRS. Offshore transactions on overseas platforms are also included in the taxation scope; regardless of where they are issued, as long as the economic value and rights structure essentially belong to securities, they can be subject to dividend income tax.

According to Aastocks, Futu Securities has officially announced the approval of its service upgrade for license No. 1 (Securities Trading) by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, launching virtual asset trading financing services for eligible clients in Hong Kong. It is understood that the collateral for this service must be traditional securities, and the credit limit obtained by clients through traditional securities financing cannot be used for cryptocurrency trading, which is currently relaxed to be usable for cryptocurrency trading.As for using virtual assets directly as collateral for "margin trading," although the circular issued by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in February relaxed the use of virtual assets as collateral, it also mentioned that before the revision of capital regulations, virtual asset collateral will be subject to a 100% deduction according to the Securities and Futures (Financial Resources) Rules, which is expected to pose certain challenges to the industry's capital efficiency in actual operations.

Recently, the Haidian Court in Beijing, China, made a ruling on a fraud case. Retired elderly man Meng, due to his obsession with virtual currency trading and unwillingness to use his pension, disguised himself as a "Central Ministry" staff member in his 20s named Xiao Hong on a short video platform and established an online romantic relationship with a young man. Meng deceived the young man out of over 200,000 yuan by claiming that his family member was ill and urgently needed surgery, and for other reasons such as preparing for an overseas exam.Meng invested all the over 200,000 yuan he defrauded into virtual currency trading and opened a tenfold leverage account. Subsequently, due to a market downturn, he faced liquidation, resulting in a total loss of funds. The Haidian Procuratorate previously prosecuted Meng for fraud, and the Haidian Court ultimately sentenced Meng to 4 years in prison and imposed a fine, while also ordering him to compensate the victim for their economic losses.

The World Cup will kick off on June 11, and the Hong Kong police have launched operations "Gobi" and "Wind Shield" to combat illegal betting on sports through publicity, education, intelligence, and law enforcement. The police pointed out that in recent years, illegal gambling has shown a trend of digitalization, including online betting, social media attracting gamblers, and using virtual currency for bets. The police stated that they still have the capability to trace participants.According to the law, betting with illegal bookmakers can result in a maximum sentence of 9 months and a fine of 50,000 HKD, accepting bets can lead to a maximum sentence of 7 years and a fine of 5 million HKD, and money laundering can result in a maximum sentence of 14 years and a fine of 5 million HKD. The police also shared a case of a young person who was once addicted to illegal gambling, who owed a maximum of 160,000 HKD at his peak. A police clinical psychologist warned that those who start gambling before the age of 18 have a risk of developing gambling disorders of over 80%.

According to the Korea Herald, the five major virtual asset trading platforms in South Korea (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, Gopax) have experienced a total of 57 hacking and system failure incidents over the past six years (from 2020 to April 2026), with a total compensation amount of approximately 7 billion Korean won (about 5.1 million USD). By exchange, the number of incidents is as follows: Upbit 26 incidents, Bithumb 14 incidents, Gopax 8 incidents, Coinone 6 incidents, Korbit 3 incidents.Among them, Bithumb compensated approximately 2.5 billion Korean won (about 1.8 million USD) for the BTC misissue incident in February this year, Upbit compensated approximately 790 million Korean won (about 570,000 USD) for a hacking incident in November 2025, and compensated approximately 3.2 billion Korean won (about 2.3 million USD) for a system incident on December 3, 2024. It is worth noting that the standards for compiling incident reports by exchanges and the scale and form of compensation vary. For example, Gopax counts errors that occur when viewing the asset list as system failures, while Bithumb only counts situations where all customers encounter difficulties using core services for more than 10 minutes as system failures.In addition, Bithumb also provided some applicants who suffered losses due to system failures with free fee vouchers instead of cash compensation. The compensation amounts for system failures are as follows: Upbit approximately 3.21 billion Korean won, Bithumb approximately 3.2 billion Korean won, Coinone approximately 49 million Korean won. Korbit and Gopax did not provide any compensation.

According to the "Procuratorial Daily," Lin, Zeng, and Dai conspired to use virtual currency trading as a pretext. During the trading process, they secretly filmed the victim's digital wallet private key and, after the virtual currency was credited, secretly logged into the victim's wallet to reverse the transaction, transferring the related virtual currency back to their controlled accounts. The three committed the crime three times, causing the victim a total economic loss of 660,000 yuan.The first-instance court held that in the absence of a clear judicial interpretation regarding the valuation method of virtual currency and sentencing standards, it was inappropriate to directly determine the amount involved as particularly huge based on the victim's purchase amount of 660,000 yuan. Therefore, they sentenced the three based on "other serious circumstances," imposing prison terms ranging from eight years to five years and six months, along with fines. The Hanyang District Procuratorate of Wuhan City in Hubei Province subsequently filed an appeal, which was supported by the Wuhan City Procuratorate.The prosecution argued that the first-instance court applied the law incorrectly and imposed an excessively light sentence. Prosecutor Dai Wentao of the Wuhan City Procuratorate stated that in the case where the victim had a clear loss amount to refer to, it was contradictory and legally erroneous to claim that the value of virtual currency could not be determined. In judicial practice, using the resale price and transaction price as the basis for determining the amount of theft has become mainstream, and determining the value of virtual currency based on the actual cost paid by the victim has factual, legal, and practical basis.The Intermediate Court of Wuhan accepted the prosecution's opinion in the second instance, revoked the corresponding content of the original judgment, and changed the determination of the theft amount to particularly huge. It sentenced the principal offender Lin to ten years and six months in prison for theft, and sentenced the accomplices Zeng and Dai to eight years in prison each, along with fines.

According to Shandong Legal News, a Bitcoin theft case prosecuted by the Li Cang District Prosecutor's Office in Qingdao has been sentenced. The defendant, Zhang, was sentenced to 10 years and 9 months in prison for theft and fined 100,000 yuan.In the early hours of a certain day in 2024, the virtual currency wallet of the victim, Feng, was quietly accessed, and 107 Bitcoins were transferred, equivalent to over 22.54 million yuan at the market price on that day. It was found that Feng had entrusted an acquaintance, Zhang, to assist with the operation. During the process of registering the wallet on behalf of Feng, Zhang obtained the mnemonic phrase, and after multiple attempts in the early morning, he cracked the wallet and transferred the Bitcoins. After being apprehended, Zhang claimed that his actions were a "protective takeover" to prevent the Bitcoins from being stolen by others. The prosecution traced the funds and found that the stolen Bitcoins were transferred multiple times and exchanged for over 660,000 yuan, exposing his lies.The prosecution determined that Bitcoin has economic value and exclusive control, meeting the core characteristics of "property" in criminal law, and can be the object of theft. The actual proceeds from the sale of the stolen Bitcoins, amounting to over 660,000 yuan, were used as the basis for the theft amount. After the defendant appealed, in November 2025, the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court ruled to dismiss the appeal and upheld the original sentence. This case is a typical example of Qingdao's legal punishment of crimes in the virtual currency field, clearly conveying the judicial stance: activities related to virtual currency must be conducted within the legal framework, and stealing others' virtual property also constitutes a crime.

According to hket, Hong Kong's Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Chen Haolian, stated that the authorities will submit legislative proposals to the Legislative Council within the year regarding the provision of virtual asset services and management, promoting the establishment of a comprehensive regulatory system covering trading, custody, advisory, and asset management, and implementing a mandatory licensing arrangement.The new framework will be advanced according to the principle of "same business, same risk, same rules," aligning with the current regulated activities under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, and will focus on strengthening private key management and client asset security requirements in virtual asset custody.The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission stated that the current applications for licenses related to virtual assets continue to increase, but licensing will adhere to the principle of "quality over quantity," balancing market capacity and quality.

In a recent speech, the Chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Huang Tianyou, revealed that the trading volume of 12 licensed virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong has exceeded HKD 640 billion for 2025, with the trading volume in the first quarter of this year increasing nearly threefold year-on-year.In addition, brokers engaged in virtual asset-related businesses saw their commission income related to this sector grow by over 80% year-on-year last year.