Dunamu Presses for Safer Virtual-Asset Inheritance Rules

Dunamu said on Nov. 9 that it used a two-day National Assembly Legislative Expo, beginning Nov. 5, 2026, to press for a unified process to identify and inherit virtual assets.

The Upbit operator presented two operational gaps at its booth and proposed corresponding changes. The first concerned access to the government’s integrated inheritance asset inquiry service. The second required a mechanism for promptly restricting trading in a customer’s account after death.

The event took place at the central lawn plaza of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. Visitors included National Assembly Speaker Cho Jung-sik, lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties, policy officials and members of the public.

Dunamu used the theme, “The Value of Digital Assets, Safely to the Next Generation.” The company argued that heirs need an institutional framework to identify a deceased person’s holdings and inherit them securely. Its presentation focused on closing gaps in the inheritance process and protecting users’ property rights.

The current process places much of the burden on bereaved families. Heirs must contact each exchange separately to determine whether the deceased held virtual assets there. Exchanges may not learn that a customer has died until a family member reports it, leaving gaps in account management and asset protection.

Dunamu also contrasted virtual assets with conventional financial assets. A company official said many people sympathize with the gap because bank deposits and securities can be checked through the government’s One-Stop Safe Inheritance Service, while virtual assets cannot.

The company’s proposals were specific:

• Include virtual assets in the government’s integrated inheritance asset inquiry service.
• Create a framework that can swiftly restrict trading in an account after the user dies.

For Upbit and other exchanges, a unified inquiry process could reduce repeated, exchange-by-exchange searches by heirs. A defined mechanism for restricting account activity would also give platforms a clearer operational response when death is reported, subject to the framework Dunamu proposed.

Dunamu employees explained the existing system to visitors and collected feedback about practical difficulties in inheritance. The expo also gave the company a direct channel to hear from users while developing a protection model suited to the growth of the digital asset industry.

One visitor in his 50s said the issue became concrete after his father died and he was able to review the estate at once. He was surprised that virtual assets remain outside the unified system. He said an institutional foundation should safeguard a deceased person’s assets and help surviving family members recover them.

A Dunamu official said: “The company will continue to put user protection first and work with a range of stakeholders to pursue institutional improvements so the value of digital assets can be passed on safely to the next generation.”

The National Assembly Legislative Expo was held for the second time in 2026. The National Assembly Secretariat hosts the public-participation event to discuss legal and policy improvements affecting everyday life and business activity.

What does this change for heirs?

For heirs and exchanges, the announcement changes the policy debate, not current procedures. Families still need to approach individual platforms, and exchanges still depend on bereaved relatives to report a death before taking action.

Dunamu’s Nov. 9 announcement did not set an implementation date. The next market-structure change to watch is an operating link between the government’s inquiry service and exchanges, because until that link exists, virtual-asset inheritance remains a fragmented process.

What matters operationally is whether policymakers adopt Dunamu’s two-part model: unified asset discovery and rapid account-trading restrictions after death. That framework would determine whether virtual assets can pass through the same inheritance infrastructure as bank deposits and securities.