47 of 113 South Korea-backed blockchain projects halted, taking 35.5 billion won

In short

• 47 of 113 South Korean government-backed blockchain projects from 2018 to 2025 had halted or shut down as of August, or 41.6%, per Money Today.
• 35.5 billion won ($25.9 million) of the 108.66 billion won ($79.3 million) in support went to projects that later stopped operating.
• The data came from KISA and was obtained by lawmaker Park Jeong-ha of the ruling Democratic Party.
• South Korea is still funding crypto and tech: Jeonbuk Bank launched a Bitcoin-backed won loan on 12 October 2026.

Forty-two per cent of the blockchain projects South Korea's government backed between 2018 and 2025 have stopped operating, according to data obtained by lawmaker Park Jeong-ha of the ruling Democratic Party and reported exclusively by Money Today. The figures, gathered from the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and others, show that as of August, 66 of the 113 supported projects were still running normally. The other 47 had either suspended services or gone out of business, or 41.6% of the total.

What the KISA data shows

The money at stake is not small. Of the 108.66 billion won ($79.3 million) Seoul committed to these projects, 35.5 billion won ($25.9 million) went to ventures that later halted or shut down, according to Money Today. That is roughly a third of the total support budget spent on projects that no longer operate.

Why the projects failed

The pattern is familiar to anyone who has watched startup funding cycles. InvestIn.News understands the failure rate is not unusual for an early-stage industry, where some ventures succeed and others do not.

Who loses when a project closes

The people most affected are the small teams and users who built on these projects. When a government-backed blockchain service shuts down, users lose access to whatever they were using, and staff lose their jobs. The 66 projects still running show the model can work, but the 47 that stopped suggest the support programme did not screen for staying power.

South Korea is still betting on crypto

South Korea has kept pushing blockchain and digital assets even as these projects failed. On 12 October 2026, Jeonbuk Bank started the country's first digital-asset-linked won lending programme, initially for corporate clients and secured only by Bitcoin, according to Odaily. A licensed virtual asset provider holds the Bitcoin, and if a borrower defaults the bank recovers the debt by selling it through court auction under revised civil enforcement rules.

The same week, Nasdaq-listed BTQ Technologies agreed a strategic partnership with MoonPay Korea to supply post-quantum cryptography for its won-backed stablecoin infrastructure, Odaily reported on 9 October 2026. The pair plan a quantum migration roadmap and a proof of concept with South Korean banks. Separately, South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on 6 October 2026 that it plans a 4.7 trillion won (about $3.5 billion) frontier artificial intelligence model research and development project starting in March 2027, with a lead developer to be picked by open bidding after the National Assembly approves the 2027 budget.

It is not clear yet whether any of the halted projects received a second round of funding or dedicated follow-up support. InvestIn.News found no clear public evidence that they did. The KISA data and Park Jeong-ha's office have not been independently confirmed beyond the Money Today report.

What happens next

The next step is the 2027 budget process, where the National Assembly will weigh the AI research project and, by extension, how South Korea spends on emerging technology. Whether that spending comes with tougher checks on whether projects survive is the open question.

Questions readers ask

How many South Korea-backed blockchain projects shut down?

According to Money Today, 47 of the 113 blockchain projects South Korea's government backed from 2018 to 2025 had suspended services or gone out of business as of August, or 41.6% of the total. The data came from the Korea Internet & Security Agency and was obtained by lawmaker Park Jeong-ha.

How much government money went to failed blockchain projects?

Money Today reported that of the 108.66 billion won ($79.3 million) in total government support, 35.5 billion won ($25.9 million) went to projects that were later halted or shut down. That is roughly a third of the total support budget spent on projects that no longer operate.

Our view

The headline figure of 41.6% invites alarm, but a near-half failure rate among early-stage government-backed ventures is closer to the cost of doing business than to scandal. Startups fail for unglamorous reasons: no real users, no traction, high expenses against low or no revenue, and no genuine demand. That is the pattern here, and it is the pattern in every emerging industry that has ever been subsidised.

The more useful question is whether Seoul is learning from it. South Korea is still committing public money to digital assets and frontier technology, from Jeonbuk Bank's Bitcoin-backed won lending to a 4.7 trillion won AI research programme due to start in March 2027. If the next round of blockchain support is designed with the same screening as the last, the same 42% will follow. A clearer test of whether projects can survive without state money would confirm the programme is maturing; another wave of quiet closures would not.

Follow the latest updates as they happen on NewsFeeds.

— Keshav Aggarwal

What to watch: South Korea's National Assembly must approve the 2027 budget before the 4.7 trillion won AI research project can begin in March 2027.