Crypto Criminals In Crosshairs As Chainalysis Partners With South Korean Police

bitcoinistPublished on 2026-06-11Last updated on 2026-06-11

Abstract

South Korea's national police have partnered with blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to strengthen their investigative capabilities against crypto-related crimes. The agreement, formalized through a memorandum of understanding, provides Korean investigators with access to specialized training and certification programs. This collaboration aims to build institutional expertise for tackling a broad spectrum of virtual asset crimes, including money laundering and state-sponsored hacking. The move follows the recent creation of a dedicated multi-agency task force to eradicate crypto-based money laundering. While North Korea-linked crypto theft, which saw massive losses in 2025, is a significant concern, officials emphasize the partnership is designed to enhance overall investigative capacity for handling complex, cross-border crypto crime cases.

South Korea’s national police launched a special multi-agency task force just weeks ago to go after crypto-based money laundering. Now they have a new partner in that fight.

Building Investigative Muscle

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean National Police Agency on Wednesday, a deal aimed at strengthening the KNPA’s ability to investigate virtual asset crimes.

The agreement will give South Korean investigators access to personalized training content, professional certification programs, and hands-on practical instruction developed by Chainalysis.

The partnership comes at a time when North Korea-linked crypto theft has been surging. Data shows that in 2025, hackers tied to the DPRK were responsible for $2 billion in crypto losses — a 51% jump from the year before, according to research from CrowdStrike.

By April of this year, theft attributed to North Korea had already reached close to $580 million, with attacks on Kelp DAO and the Drift Protocol among the largest incidents.

South Korea’s police have been described as being at the forefront of confronting those state-level threats. But Chainalysis country director Ryan Kwon said the MoU is built around a wider purpose than targeting any single adversary.

A Wider Mandate

“While North Korean-driven attacks are understandably a national security focus, this partnership isn’t designed around a single threat,” Kwon said. “It’s fundamentally about building institutional capability.”

Chainalysis has worked alongside South Korean law enforcement before. In September last year, police in Seoul dismantled an international hacking ring that had stolen roughly $30 million.

Source: Chainalysis

The investigation started in South Korea and eventually led authorities to Thailand, with Chainalysis playing a supporting role throughout.

The newly signed agreement builds on that existing relationship. According to Chainalysis, Korean investigators need global visibility into how illicit funds move across blockchains to handle these cases effectively — and that cross-border reach is part of what the training is designed to provide.

BTCUSD trading at $62,044 on the 24-hour chart: TradingView

Casting The Net On Crypto Crime

The MoU follows the May launch of the Money Laundering Eradication Task Force, a multi-agency unit under South Korea’s Economic Crime Investigation Division created specifically to go after crypto-based financial crimes.

The back-to-back moves suggest a deliberate push by South Korean authorities to sharpen their tools against a growing range of threats — from state-sponsored hackers to scams targeting ordinary investors.

Chainalysis said the goal is not just to chase individual cases but to leave the KNPA better equipped long after any single investigation wraps up.

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView

Related Questions

QWhat is the main purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Chainalysis and the Korean National Police Agency?

AThe main purpose is to strengthen the KNPA's ability to investigate virtual asset crimes by providing personalized training content, professional certification programs, and hands-on practical instruction developed by Chainalysis.

QAccording to the article, what was the estimated value of crypto losses attributed to North Korea-linked hackers in 2025?

AAccording to research from CrowdStrike, North Korea-linked hackers were responsible for an estimated $2 billion in crypto losses in 2025.

QWhat recent initiative by South Korean authorities does the Chainalysis MoU follow, and what is its focus?

AThe MoU follows the May launch of the Money Laundering Eradication Task Force, a multi-agency unit created specifically to go after crypto-based financial crimes.

QWhat does Chainalysis country director Ryan Kwon say is the fundamental goal of the partnership with the KNPA?

ARyan Kwon states that the partnership is fundamentally about building institutional capability within the KNPA, rather than being designed solely around targeting a single threat like North Korean-driven attacks.

QHow did Chainalysis previously assist South Korean law enforcement, as mentioned in the article?

AChainalysis played a supporting role in an investigation where Seoul police dismantled an international hacking ring that had stolen roughly $30 million, with the investigation starting in South Korea and leading to Thailand.

Related Reads

The Changing Landscape: What Are Crypto VCs Experiencing?

Title: The Shifting Landscape of Crypto Venture Capital The era of dedicated crypto venture capital funds is undergoing a significant transformation. Once essential for navigating the sector's complexity and high risk, these specialized funds are now facing an identity crisis as the market matures. This shift mirrors historical patterns in other specialized investment classes like cleantech and SPACs, where initial information advantages dissipate as technologies become mainstream and integrated into existing industry frameworks. The article argues that crypto is reaching a critical inflection point, transitioning from a "building phase" to an "integration phase." Major players like Stripe, BlackRock, and Visa now engage with crypto not for its novel mechanics but as a foundational financial infrastructure. Their needs—regulatory compliance, banking partnerships, distribution channels—align with traditional fintech, a domain easily understood by large, generalist funds like Sequoia and Founders Fund. This evolution creates a "barbell effect" within the VC landscape. On one end are massive, diversified platforms that can incorporate crypto as one vertical among many. On the other are small, nimble funds focused on niche, experimental projects. The middle ground—medium-sized dedicated crypto funds—is being squeezed out. Their typical fund size makes it impossible to generate sufficient returns solely from early-stage crypto bets, yet they cannot compete with giants for later-stage deals. Consequently, leading crypto-native firms like Paradigm and Framework Ventures are expanding into AI, robotics, and other sectors, driven partly by LP pressure for better returns amid a broader VC DPI crisis. Others, like Dragonfly and a16z, have narrowed their crypto focus predominantly to financial infrastructure like stablecoins, reframing the sector's core narrative. For crypto entrepreneurs, this consolidation presents challenges. While generalist funds offer larger checks and broader resources, crypto projects now compete fiercely with AI for attention and capital within these firms. Furthermore, the long-term, non-commercial foundational work that built the ecosystem—funded by dedicated crypto VCs—is less likely to attract generalist capital focused on direct returns. The conclusion is that "crypto investor" as a standalone category is becoming obsolete, akin to "internet investor." Crypto is becoming a baseline infrastructure layer. The future will see a barbell structure: large-scale growth financing handled by generalist funds, while pioneering, speculative projects are funded by small, specialized vehicles. The dedicated crypto funds of the 2017-2021 boom, which incubated core infrastructure, are giving way to this new, bifurcated reality.

Foresight News15m ago

The Changing Landscape: What Are Crypto VCs Experiencing?

Foresight News15m ago

As Consensus Accelerates, What Are Young Investors Betting On?

Title: As Consensus Forms Faster, What Are Young Investors Betting On? In the rapid evolution of tech investment, a new generation of young investors is navigating a landscape where AI, robotics, commercial aerospace, and quantum computing are advancing simultaneously. Traditional investment logic based on financial models is giving way to a need for deep technical understanding and the ability to act before industry consensus forms. An analysis of trends from the "WAIC FUTURE TECH" list of young investment leaders reveals key shifts in focus. The first major trend is the movement of AI from the digital screen into the physical world. Investment is shifting from large language models and chatbots towards embodied AI, robotics, AI hardware, and edge computing. While demonstrations generate excitement, the real challenge lies in achieving scalable, reliable, and cost-effective delivery in complex real-world environments like factories and logistics. Success depends not just on algorithms but on the integration of sensors, actuators, and control systems. Second, the competitive focus for large models is moving beyond raw capability toward building an "intelligence flywheel." The goal is to create self-reinforcing systems where user interaction generates data, improving the model, which in turn enhances the user experience and attracts more engagement. Companies that successfully embed AI into workflows to create these closed-loop systems can build lasting value that isn't easily erased by the next model upgrade. Third, facing a potential bottleneck in high-quality human-generated data, investors are looking at new underlying technologies. Reinforcement learning and self-play, as demonstrated by AlphaGo Zero, offer paths for AI to generate its own experience. Scientific foundation models, which aim to build general AI capabilities for fields like life sciences and materials discovery, represent a non-consensus direction that could unlock new frontiers of knowledge and data. Finally, in deep-tech areas like quantum computing, commercial aerospace, and space-based infrastructure, patient capital is essential. These fields have long, uncertain development and validation cycles involving complex engineering, supply chains, and regulations. Investment here requires a long-term view, focusing on foundational team capabilities and the eventual emergence of market demand, even if commercial returns are distant. Collectively, these trends illustrate how young investors are adapting to a new era. They are learning to make earlier, technically-informed judgments, balance hype with real-world viability, and provide the patient capital needed to build the deep-tech foundations of the future.

marsbit43m ago

As Consensus Accelerates, What Are Young Investors Betting On?

marsbit43m ago

Unlocking $100 Million in Liquidity? Pump.fun's New Policy Tests the 5-Minute Pump Technique

Foresight News, July 21 – Pump.fun has launched its new "BOOST" mode as the standard launch mechanism for new tokens. The core of BOOST is to address the issue of "dead liquidity." Historically, when a token migrates from its bonding curve to a liquidity pool, roughly 20% of its liquidity becomes permanently locked and unusable, a problem the platform estimates costs over $100 million annually. The new mechanism redirects this 20% of funds, which would have been locked, to instead be used for a 5-minute Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) buyback of the token immediately after migration. The purchased tokens are then permanently burned. For example, this means reserving 17.6 SOL for SOL pairs or about $2516 for USDC pairs at migration. This creates a short-term buying pressure and reduces the token's supply. The goal is to improve the immediate post-launch performance of memecoins, potentially increasing trader retention and transaction volume on the platform. However, critics warn this could lower the bar for token launches, encouraging low-quality projects, and that the brief 5-minute buy pressure might lead to sharper price crashes once it ends if followed by large sell-offs.

Foresight News53m ago

Unlocking $100 Million in Liquidity? Pump.fun's New Policy Tests the 5-Minute Pump Technique

Foresight News53m ago

What Signals Can Be Read from the Trading Data of India's Largest Asset Manager SBI's IPO?

India's largest asset manager, SBI Funds Management, successfully listed on July 21 with a nearly $10 billion IPO, attracting approximately 42 times subscription. However, the first-day closing price rose only about 6.3%, falling short of the 16% premium anticipated in the grey market. This signals robust demand for core Indian financial assets but also disciplined pricing, indicating the IPO market is selectively open for strong brands with clear growth narratives. The low reported underwriting fees, which led some global banks to reduce participation, highlight a shift in pricing power towards powerful issuers like SBI. Its strong brand, banking parent, and stable cash flows reduced reliance on traditional investment banking sales channels, with local brokers playing a larger role. This fee dynamic may not be replicable for weaker issuers. SBI's performance is seen as a key test for India's IPO pipeline, including potential future large listings like Reliance Jio and NSE. Its success with tempered gains sets a new price anchor: high-quality assets can launch, but excessive valuation premiums are constrained. The true measure of a sustained market reopening will be whether subsequent major offerings can proceed smoothly at reasonable valuations.

marsbit1h ago

What Signals Can Be Read from the Trading Data of India's Largest Asset Manager SBI's IPO?

marsbit1h ago

Can Japan Buy Growth with AI? Will the Bond Market Believe It?

Japan's cabinet has introduced the 2026 Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform, shifting its primary fiscal target. The new framework moves away from the traditional annual primary balance goal and instead prioritizes a stable reduction of the debt-to-GDP ratio. This change is tied to a strategy of increased "responsible proactive fiscal" spending, aiming to boost long-term growth through investments in strategic sectors like AI, semiconductors, energy, and robotics. The government estimates total public and private investment in 62 key technologies could exceed 370 trillion yen by 2040. The market reaction has been mixed and cautious. While equity markets may respond to policy signals, bond markets are focused on fiscal credibility. Concerns center on whether the weakening of the clear primary balance anchor could lead to looser fiscal discipline. If investors doubt that these strategic investments will generate sufficient productivity gains, tax revenue, and nominal growth to outpace rising interest costs, they may demand higher yields on Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs). Recent volatility in the yen and JGB yields, with the 10-year yield briefly reaching 2.9%, reflects this skepticism. The success of this new framework hinges on two factors: whether Japan can achieve a nominal growth rate consistently higher than its long-term interest rates, and whether future budgets demonstrate disciplined control over bond issuance. The government's narrative is that strategic investment is essential to break Japan's cycle of low growth, aging, and labor shortages. However, the bond market will continuously assess the credibility of this plan, pricing the risk that it may represent fiscal expansion rather than a viable growth strategy.

marsbit1h ago

Can Japan Buy Growth with AI? Will the Bond Market Believe It?

marsbit1h ago

Trading

Spot
活动图片