South Korea's Supreme Court has published an amendment to the Rules of Civil Execution that codifies a dedicated procedural framework for seizing crypto, moving Seoul ahead of major peers that still rely on property-law analogies.
South Korea Codifies Crypto Seizure Rules, Outpacing Major Peers
6 July 2026 - 13:08 CEST
By Oihyun Kim
New rulebook
The National Court Administration issued the notice on 2 Jul, with invitations to comment through 11 Aug and enforcement from October.
South Korean courts executing debt-enforcement and similar procedures have for years approached crypto assets indirectly, by treating exchange withdrawal-claim rights as "other property rights" under general enforcement law. The amendment replaces that case-by-case analogy with a dedicated procedure for crypto.
A court attachment order now bars disposal and requires the exchange or custodian to transfer assets to an enforcement officer. The attachment takes effect the moment the officer receives the assets. Liquidation may proceed by direct transfer to the creditor, by sale via a dedicated officer account at market price or by entrusted sale via the exchange. Illiquid tokens can be swapped for liquid crypto, such as Bitcoin (BTC), before sale.
Personal wallets are also covered. Creditors may compel Upbit, Bithumb and other exchanges to disclose a debtor's holdings, and new provisional measures allow wallet freezes before final judgment.
Comparative gap
South Korea's move to codify crypto's role in debt proceedings sets it apart. In Japan and Germany, courts already attach crypto, but only by applying general laws written long before the technology existed. Japanese courts rely on Article 167 of the Civil Execution Act, the catch-all for "other property rights." Germany takes the same route, with courts confirming this reading only in 2023.
The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation sits on a separate track, covering licensing and market conduct rather than civil enforcement, which is left to member-state law.
The UK and US work through case law and state-level rules rather than a dedicated statute. UK courts recognise crypto as property and grant freezing and disclosure orders through the general Civil Procedure Rules.
In the US, civil enforcement is largely a matter of state law; the Uniform Commercial Code's 2022 Article 12 amendments cover ownership and secured transactions in digital assets, not the mechanics of seizing them. South Korea appears among the first major jurisdictions to codify a dedicated procedure.
