Crypto Regulation Heats Up in Asia with New Agencies and Licenses

South Korea is set to establish a joint virtual-asset crime investigation unit under its new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, which will be formally established in October. The agency will have a total staffing of 2,874, including 2,567 investigators, and will handle seven major categories of cases such as corruption, economic offenses, narcotics-related crimes, and cybercrime.

The Seoul Regional Office will specifically set up a Joint Investigation Division for Voice Phishing, Financial and Virtual-Asset Crimes to strengthen centralized probes into financial crimes involving crypto-assets.