Recent social commentary has brought attention to official records showing that South Korean lawmakers and other public officials own significant amounts of $XRP.
Although the disclosures first became public around March 2025, market participants have recently started discussing the data, as they assess the cryptocurrency holdings of government officials.
For context, South Korea now requires public officials to regularly disclose their assets, and those disclosures now include cryptocurrencies. The country expanded these rules after a series of regulatory changes and high-profile crypto-related controversies.
South Korea’s Disclosure Rules
Notably, South Korea has one of the world’s most active cryptocurrency markets, and the country has continued to strengthen oversight as digital assets become more widely used.
As part of this effort, authorities expanded public asset disclosure rules to cover virtual assets. Data released around March 2025 showed that lawmakers held substantial amounts of $XRP.
Among those disclosures, Seoul City Councilor Kim Hye-young reported the largest cryptocurrency portfolio during the reporting period.
Her family’s virtual asset holdings were worth about 1.76 billion Korean won, or roughly $1.14 million. The portfolio included 16 different cryptocurrencies.
Kim Hye-young’s Family Held More Than 522,000 $XRP
The filing showed that Kim Hye-young’s spouse owned 519,004 $XRP, while her eldest son held another 3,336 $XRP. Together, the family’s $XRP holdings came to 522,340 $XRP.
The disclosure also included several other digital assets. Her spouse reported holding 0.01226935 ETH and 472 DOGE in addition to $XRP. Kim Hye-young also disclosed personal cryptocurrency holdings, including 0.00144591 BTC.
Seoul City Councilor Choi Min-gyu reported the second-largest cryptocurrency portfolio. His virtual assets were valued at about 1.62 billion Korean won, or around $1 million. His holdings included 409,551 $XRP, 9,402 Arbitrum (ARB), and 4,701 Cardano (ADA), along with several other altcoins.
Hundreds of Officials Reported Crypto Assets
The broader disclosure figures came from the Public Officials Ethics Committee, which published changes to officials’ property filings for 2025 around March 27, 2025.
The data showed that 411 of the 2,047 officials required to file disclosures reported owning cryptocurrencies. This represented about 20.1% of all officials covered by the reporting rules.
The total value of those crypto holdings reached 14.4 billion Korean won, or over $9.4 million. On average, each official who disclosed digital assets reported holdings worth around 35 million Korean won, equal to roughly $25,000.
The records also showed that $XRP ranked among the cryptocurrencies most commonly held by officials and their family members.
South Korea expanded these disclosure requirements after earlier controversies, including the case involving lawmaker Kim Nam-guk and his large undisclosed cryptocurrency holdings.
Before the reforms, officials did not always have to report virtual assets. Lawmakers began proposing changes as early as 2023 to close those gaps in the disclosure rules.
U.S. Lawmakers Report Much Smaller $XRP Holdings
Meanwhile, in the United States, lawmakers disclose financial assets under the STOCK Act, which covers investments such as stocks and cryptocurrencies. Public filings generally show much smaller $XRP holdings than those reported in South Korea.
Representative Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania disclosed cryptocurrency purchases made in late 2024, including $XRP and Solana around Dec. 11, 2024, before later buying Bitcoin.
His reported holdings fell within the required disclosure range of $1,000 to $15,000 for each asset. Meanwhile, more recently, White House official Ian Kelley confirmed holding $XRP in an official disclosure.
