South Korea NTS leaks wallet seed; 4M PRTG seized tokens stolen then returned
South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) accidentally published an unredacted wallet mnemonic in a February 26 press release that included images of seized hardware. Attackers used the exposed recovery phrase to restore the wallet, funded it with ETH for gas, and transferred out 4,000,000 Pre-Retogeum (PRTG) tokens in three moves. The tokens were shown at roughly 6.4 billion won (~$4.8M) face value but were effectively illiquid (most listings only on MEXC with minimal depth). About 20 hours after the transfers the PRTG balances were returned to the original wallets. This incident is the latest in a string of South Korean law-enforcement custody failures following losses of 320.8 BTC by the Gwangju prosecutors’ office and 22 BTC at Seoul’s Gangnam police station. Security experts criticized the NTS for operational negligence; at time of reporting NTS had not issued a public statement. Key details for traders: mnemonic leak of seized crypto; 4,000,000 PRTG moved; tokens represent a large share of PRTG supply across affected addresses and have negligible liquidity (24h volume ~ $332 on MEXC), limiting any realistic extraction of market value; swift return of tokens suggests opportunistic grabs rather than long-term sell pressure. Primary keywords: mnemonic leak, seized crypto, NTS, PRTG token. Secondary keywords: wallet seed, recovery phrase, custody failure, South Korea, law enforcement crypto security.
Bearish
Direct token impact: bearish. The leak of the wallet mnemonic and subsequent temporary transfer of 4,000,000 PRTG created immediate negative sentiment and demonstrated operational risk around seized assets. Even though the tokens were largely illiquid and were returned about 20 hours later, the event increases perceived risk for holding or trading PRTG: market makers and buyers may widen spreads or pull liquidity, and token price discovery could be impaired if holders fear further custodial incidents. Short-term: elevated selling pressure or order-book instability if any of the moved supply resurfaces for sale; increased volatility and lower liquidity as traders react. Medium-to-long-term: reputational damage to PRTG and reduced confidence may suppress demand until custody/security concerns are addressed; however, because the token’s real market liquidity is tiny (24h volume ~ $332 on MEXC), large realized on-chain sell-offs were unlikely — the main effect is sentiment-driven. For traders: expect short-term downside/volatility for PRTG and cautious market-making until clarity from NTS and on-chain holders; monitoring on-chain flows and exchange depth is critical.