South Korean Lawmakers Say Their Wallets Are ‘Full of Crypto Dust’

South Korean lawmakers claim their crypto wallets contain little more than “crypto dust,” as they continue to distance themselves from token ownership.

Per Sisa Journal, many notable crypto-holding lawmakers have sold their coins. This is likely due to ongoing crypto-related political scandals.

Crypto Dust Is All We Have Left, MPs Claim

Chief among these is the Coin Gate affair. The affair saw former lawmaker and crypto-related parliamentary commission member Kim Nam-guk accused of using insider information to trade coins.

Further allegations of crypto insider trading led lawmakers to accuse one another of secretly owning tokens ahead of parliamentary elections.

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— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) September 18, 2024

As a result, South Korean lawmakers and their families are now legally obliged to make crypto declarations.

So, rather than face public scrutiny about their crypto holdings, it appears that many lawmakers have simply liquidated their holdings.

And that means they have been left with wallets full of little more than crypto dust and modest amounts of airdrop-related coins.

What Is Crypto Dust?

Crypto “dust” refers to tiny quantities of cryptoassets that are typically too small to be traded.

This dust usually accumulates after crypto holders sell a maximum amount of coins, leaving behind tiny amounts that fall under crypto exchanges’ minimum trade limits.

Only 36 out of 300 elected National Assembly officials said they had any crypto holdings with a non-zero monetary value prior to April 10’s elections.

However, the percentage of crypto in total asset worth for all 300 lawmakers is a mere 0.01%. This, the media outlet explained, is an “absolutely insignificant amount.”

Moreover, many of those who declared coins appeared to have moved quickly to dispose of their cryptoassets.

The media outlet spoke to Chun Ha-ram of the New Reform Party, who reported that his wife had 11 crypto wallets holding tokens “worth a total of 22,000 won ($16.51).”

Six of these coins, Chun told the outlet, were airdrops to EOS coin holders, while three others were airdropped to XRP owners.

“[We] sold everything that could be sold. [We] are left with only small amounts of [dust] that cannot be traded.”

Chun Ha-ram, New Reform Party Lawmaker

Bitcoin Sell-off

The media outlet also gave the example of Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Jun-hyeok, who declared that he owned 114.2 million won ($85,700) worth of Bitcoin (BTC).

However, Kim Jun-hyeok has since claimed he “disposed of all” of his BTC “after declaring it.”

On the other side of the house, the People’s Power Party lawmaker Park Chung-kwon reported owning 58.8 million won ($44,128) worth of Solana (SOL) before the election.

But Park also said he had sold all of his SOL holdings in February this year.

Scandal Pushing Lawmakers Away from Crypto?

The media outlet added that records show that many lawmakers have also sold many of their holdings immediately after they received airdropped coins.

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— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) September 21, 2024

However, the records do make interesting reading for domestic crypto enthusiasts.

They indicate that certain lawmakers have been extremely active in the past on both the BTC and the altcoins markets.

One lawmaker declared owning crypto wallets for some 45 altcoins. But the same MP calculated these coins as having a worth of just over $580.

Kim Nam-guk, meanwhile, is set to face trial over ongoing allegations. Last month, prosecutors indicted the former Democratic Party MP on charges of using crypto to hide his assets.

Prosecutors think he used cryptoassets to hide almost $7.5 million worth of his wealth.