[South Korean National Police Agency Establishes Guidelines for Dark Coin Management, Compresses Virtual Asset Market Value by Approximately 54.5 Billion KRW Over 5 Years] The South Korean National Police Agency recently completed a draft directive for managing compressed virtual assets, incorporating management guidelines for highly anonymous virtual currencies known as 'dark coins' for the first time, and specifying management plans for software wallets. Dark coins have been used in criminal cases and North Korean money laundering activities. It is estimated that the South Korean police have compressed virtual asset market values by approximately 54.5 billion KRW over the past five years, including around 50.7 billion KRW in Bitcoin and 1.8 billion KRW in Ethereum. The National Police Agency plans to complete the selection of private custodial institutions in the first half of the year, but previous bids failed three times due to budget and institutional scale issues. Experts recommend establishing a government-led unified custodial system to mitigate risks.