Korea's Debt Relief Process Struggles with Cryptocurrency Held Overseas

The Credit Counseling and Recovery Service in South Korea is struggling to verify cryptocurrency held on overseas exchanges during debt restructuring applications. The service counts an applicant's cryptocurrency as an asset, but says holdings on foreign exchanges are difficult to identify unless disclosed by the applicant.

The current rules do not list cryptocurrency as a separate asset category, according to financial industry sources. Applicants report their assets and debts, and the service conducts its review based on those filings.

However, the service relies heavily on applicants' own statements when checking for overseas-held cryptocurrency, which can be hard to verify without direct access to foreign exchange records. This has led to confusion among users who hold cryptocurrency on overseas exchanges, with some members of the service's online community suggesting that such holdings are unlikely to be checked.

An official at the service acknowledged that there is no written procedure for separately verifying cryptocurrency on overseas exchanges during applications. 'If applicants do not disclose it, verification is realistically difficult,' they said.