Appeal Hearing Set in South Korea First Crypto Act Case After Woori Launch

An appeal hearing is now scheduled next month in South Korea’s first criminal case under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, testing enforcement precedents for exchanges and executives. The development follows Woori Bank’s May 11 launch of the country’s first major bank-backed crypto airline ticket payments via its Woori Safe Settlement system, which converts Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to fiat for carriers. Just three days later, a Seoul court acquitted Woori in a four-year-old foreign exchange case, ruling the bank was merely an intermediary rather than the substantive violator of banking and currency laws, a decision that lowers legal risks for similar crypto services.