Wallet Of Parliamentary Members In South Korea Full Of 'Crypto Debu'

JAKARTA - Several South Korean lawmakers have revealed that their crypto wallet now contains only crypto debris' after selling most of their assets. This statement comes amid growing public spotlight on the crypto holding of officials, linked to crypto political scandals. This phenomenon adds to the complexity of the political situation in South Korea, where public trust in the integrity of state officials is being tested.

The phenomenon of cryptodust' refers to the very small amount of crypto remains after owners sell their main assets. Usually, this amount is too small to trade because it is below the minimum transaction limit on crypto exchanges. South Korean lawmakers, previously known to own large amounts of cryptocurrencies, now claim to have only a small remaining amount of cryptodust' in their digital wallets.

This condition comes after the Coin Gate scandal rocked South Korea's politics. Kim Nam-guk, a former member of parliament who is involved in the crypto-related parliamentary commission, is accused of using insider information to trade digital assets. These allegations sparked a wave of suspicion, in which a number of other lawmakers were accused of hiding their crypto holdings ahead of the general election.

In response, the South Korean government required officials and their families to declare ownership of their crypto assets. Instead of facing public criticism, many officials then chose to sell their assets.

Reporting from Crypto News, a number of reports stated that 36 of the 300 members of the South Korean National Assembly claimed to have crypto assets before the April 10 elections. However, the proportion of crypto value compared to their total assets is very small, which is only 0.01%. Some MPs also quickly sold their cryptocurrencies after the declaration.

One example is Chun Ha-ram, a member of the New Reform Party, who reported that his wife has 11 crypto wallets with a value of only 22.000 won (around Rp. 250,000). Most of these assets are airdrops, where token holders such as EOS and XRP receive crypto for free.

"We have sold everything that can be sold, and only dust remains that cannot be traded," Chun said.

Another striking case is Kim Jun-hyeok, a member of the Korean Democratic Party, who previously reported having 114.2 million won (approximately IDR 1.5 billion) in Bitcoin. However, Kim claimed to have sold all of his Bitcoin assets after declaring them.

On the other hand, a member of the People's Power Party, Park Chung-kwon, revealed that before the election, he had 58.8 million won (around Rp800 million) in Solana. Park also stated that he had sold all of his assets in February 2024.