Fifteen cryptocurrency operators in Korea had shut down as of the 4th of this month, leaving 22.14 billion won in assets belonging to 1,949,742 users frozen and out of reach.

The scale of the freeze is stark, but the amount that has come back is tiny. Only six operators have transferred their assets to the Digital Asset Protection Foundation, which was set up last year to help return user holdings, and the recovered total amounts to just 0.3 percent of all frozen assets.

The numbers matter because this is not a temporary accounting problem. These are bankrupt or shut-down operators, and the people affected are waiting on money and digital assets that were supposed to be safeguarded when the market unraveled. The foundation exists to support that return, but its record so far shows how little progress has been made.

That gap is what critics are seizing on. They say more legislation is needed because there is currently no way to compel bankrupt operators to hand over assets, leaving the foundation with little leverage and users with little relief. Until that changes, the closures will keep piling up while the recovery rate stays stuck near zero.

For now, the answer is plain: the won currency tied up in these shutdowns is still mostly frozen, and the system meant to return it has barely moved it.