Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 213

Translator: Dreamscribe"As expected, the backlash is severe, CEO-nim."

It was right after the anti-money laundering algorithm had been officially introduced to the market.

Countless accounts had been frozen as a result.

Naturally, fierce protests poured in, lawsuits of every kind were filed, and controversy erupted on a massive scale.

What was Bitcoin, after all?

It was an asset free from the control of any central government.

People were up in arms, claiming that principle had been violated.

"They're not wrong, technically. An asset that's supposed to be free from control is being controlled."

But Bitcoin, free from central government control...

That premise was flawed from the start.

A currency that exists beyond the reach of central authority simply cannot exist.

Someone will always hold the reins.

Just like how I was freezing coins through the KW Exchange right now.

"Due to this freeze, overall coin prices have dropped more than 15%. If the situation doesn't improve, anxious holders will keep dumping their coins."

Bitcoin had once hit rock bottom before rebounding, finally breaking through the 100-million-won mark that everyone thought was impossible.

Hadn't it now pierced through 150 million won?

With that much capital flowing in, volatility had become lower than before.

A 15% drop in Bitcoin's price was no longer a common occurrence.

"It does seem like we need to take action on this."

It had been three days since the Bitcoin assets flagged by the AML filter were frozen.

Complaints were erupting from every direction, and they were starting to impact the market.

"If this continues, we'll lose the trust that Bitcoin assets provide. The worst-case scenario is our stablecoin, KW Coin, losing its utility entirely."

KW Coin was the stablecoin we had developed, and it was still being steadily circulated. Many platforms were using it, and if the Bitcoin market were to collapse, it would be devastating for KW Coin as well.

In other words, it could deal enormous damage to our company.

"We'll need to take some kind of action."

"Yes. Otherwise, there's no telling how much worse things could get."

It was a truly tricky problem.

With China collapsing and Russia being shaken along with it, the United States was seizing the opportunity to ramp up the pressure.

And they had included Bitcoin among their sanctions targets, applying silent pressure on us.

Telling us to fall in line of our own accord.

"But if we just comply blindly, we're on the verge of losing the Bitcoin market's trust. And if we don't comply, there's no telling what the U.S. government, which has built formidable power through this reelection, might do."

We had introduced this algorithm mostly for show.

The plan was to freeze everything for just ten days and then release it all.

But keeping things frozen for ten days would bring the tower we'd painstakingly built crashing down.

"So we release the majority of assets and only keep the genuinely suspicious ones frozen."

"But isn't it difficult to determine which assets belong to the Russian side?"

"Yes. Apparently the KW Exchange conducted as thorough an investigation as possible and compiled a list of suspicious assets."

"Let me see it."

"Here it is."

The Department Head-nim handed over a tablet instead of a paper document.

"......"

They said they'd investigated thoroughly, but...

"There's a huge amount?"

"Yes. And that's after significantly narrowing it down."

That just showed how much money was tied up in Bitcoin.

The problem was that the list of suspected assets was truly massive, and beneath each entry was a heap of information explaining why it was flagged as suspicious.

If they had printed it out, the stack of papers would have been mountainous. The sheer volume of data was staggering.

"Should we just have the KW Exchange freeze them at their own discretion? It's far too much data for you to review personally, CEO-nim..."

"No. This is still our clients' money. We can't have innocent people caught in the crossfire. I need to look through it carefully."

The sheer volume was enough to make me sigh, but what could I do?

It was our clients' money, so we had to take responsibility.

Just as I began scrolling down the list to read through each entry...

"...!?"

My temples started to throb, and lights began flickering next to each asset.

Blue and red.

Just those two colors.

As if showing me which ones were safe and which ones were dangerous.

"......"

As though in a trance, I checked off only the assets that glowed red.

"This will probably take quite a while, so we'll stay here with you and help review them, CEO-nim. Let me order some food first..."

"Here."

"Pardon?"

The Department Head-nim accepted the tablet back with a bewildered expression.

Even checking them quickly had taken some time, given the sheer size of the list.

"Did you... really go through all of it?"

"Yes. Freeze only the ones I've checked and release everything else."

Whether those were truly Russian assets, I had no way of knowing for certain.

Even if our employees read every piece of information here and scrutinized it all, they wouldn't be able to confirm it either.

So I had no choice but to go with what my instinct showed me.

Still, this should be enough to stabilize the Bitcoin market again, shouldn't it?

And take some of the pressure off from the White House, too.

* * *

"What's Kwangwoon doing?"

"Apparently they introduced a new algorithm to participate in the Russia sanctions and froze all suspected Bitcoin assets."

"......"

Aiden blinked for a moment.

This round of Russia sanctions was a golden opportunity.

With China having collapsed, the situation was dire for Russia, which had relied on and trusted them.

The plan was to drag them to the negotiating table and force them to sign an agreement, which was why these powerful new sanctions had been added.

"Bitcoin was one of the targets, yes, but..."

Honestly, he hadn't expected Kwangwoon to actually comply with the sanctions.

They never engaged in deals that cost them money.

For them to participate in sanctions that could significantly impact the Bitcoin market?

It was unthinkable.

"And they're actually following our sanctions this obediently?"

"Perhaps they're giving you face, Mr. President? Kwangwoon and you are working together right now, after all."

At Chief of Staff Celine's words, Aiden let out a scoff.

"Celine."

"Yes?"

"You still don't know Kwangwoon very well. If they really wanted to do me a favor, they shouldn't have gotten me reelected."

"......"

Aiden had been deeply worried about these economic sanctions.

His advisors had even counseled him to consider postponing the sanctions.

Because right now, Russia was cornered.

Who could have predicted that China, which they had trusted, would crumble like that?

"If it weren't for Kwangwoon, Russia would be comfortably pressuring Ukraine right now. All they had to do was stall, and Ukraine would have self-destructed on its own."

But Kwangwoon had sparked internal conflict in China, and Li Jinping's inner circle had been completely wiped out.

So what options did a cornered Patin have?

"Are you saying he might resort to extreme measures?"

For Patin, "extreme measures" didn't mean putting a gun to his own head.

It meant that if he was going to die anyway, he might decide to take everyone with him and push the button.

That button, the one that could reduce every living thing on this planet to dust.

"Or maybe..."

Something suddenly occurred to him.

"Is Kwangwoon still keeping those assets frozen?"

"Well, they kept everything frozen for about three days, but once public opinion turned sour, they released most of the assets and only kept a select few locked."

"Is that so? And do we know what those select few are?"

"No. We don't know exactly who those assets belong to. But Kwangwoon says they kept those particular assets frozen to participate in the U.S. sanctions against Russia."

Russia might appear as though Patin wielded absolute power.

But the entire power structure didn't revolve around him alone.

There was the billionaire class he had created.

The Oligarchs.

The Oligarchs running private military companies were deeply intertwined with Russia both militarily and economically.

The reason they followed Patin was partly because he had ousted the old plutocrats and installed them in their place, but also because their interests were aligned.

"But it's not just Patin who's cornered. The Oligarchs who've been hiding their wealth in Bitcoin must be burning up inside right now, too."

And if Patin decided to give up on everything and press the nuclear launch button, would they really just sit there and take it?

They valued their own safety above Russia's infinite glory and power, and they wanted to live warm, comfortable, luxurious lives even while everyone else crawled in the dirt.

"But even for Kwangwoon, it would be difficult to determine exactly who owns which Bitcoin assets, wouldn't it?"

"Who knows. This is Kwangwoon we're talking about. The fact that they froze everything at once and then unlocked most of it while keeping only a portion locked means their investigation is already done, doesn't it?"

And if the assets that remained frozen truly belonged to the Russian billionaires, then they, too, would have to make a choice.

Whether to lose it all and go broke.

Or to take back what had been taken from them.

* * *

"What do you mean? I thought they released all the assets?"

"They did. But... the Oligarchs' assets are still blocked."

There was only one thing that could mean.

"Kwangwoon has identified all of our Bitcoin assets?"

"How else could they have singled out only the Russian billionaires' assets to freeze?"

"But, but how? How is that even possible? It's not like we left our assets sitting out in the open. We used every method imaginable to route and conceal them!"

They were beside themselves.

Even if the best intelligence agency in America came knocking, it would be nearly impossible to identify which Bitcoin assets belonged to the Russian billionaires.

Because they hadn't concentrated their assets in one place. They had split them into countless pieces and scattered them, so only the person holding the encryption key knew what was what.

And yet somehow, Kwangwoon had pinpointed only the Russian billionaires' assets and blocked every single one.

"So... the hundreds of billions of dollars we hold are in Kwangwoon's hands right now?"

"Yes."

"They said they'd release everything within ten days, didn't they? It's already been three days. So everything gets unlocked in a week, right?"

"No. They've now released the majority of assets, and the ones still frozen will remain locked indefinitely until the Russia sanctions are lifted."

"!?"

When they first heard that their assets had been frozen, they had fallen into deep deliberation. Whether they should betray Patin now and help bring the Russia sanctions to an end.

But when word came that Kwangwoon would release everything within ten days, they had decided to wait it out. As it turned out, Kwangwoon had never intended to return the money in the first place.

"If the Russia sanctions don't end, that wealth will be lost forever."

"And in the meantime, Kwangwoon might just swallow our fortune whole."

"......"

Abrahimovich felt cold sweat forming on his palms.

Sanctions against Russia had been imposed from every corner of the world up to this point, but none of them had ever felt like a real threat. This, however, was a moment of life and death.

"So, what are you all trying to say? That we should actually go up against President Patin?"

"That senile old man has already lost his composure. We never liked the war with Ukraine to begin with. It was a war without justification from the very start, wasn't it?"

"Exactly. And Patin is refusing to end this war because he wants to leave one last legacy before he dies. Regardless of what we want, he's purely trying to fulfill his own ambitions."

The result was that the billionaires' fortunes were about to go up in smoke through no fault of their own.

"That's not all. Whenever someone opposed him, didn't he have them poisoned? How long are we supposed to live in fear?"

"You all know perfectly well how much we've already lost because of Patin. And now we're supposed to let our last safety net go up in flames too? I can't agree to that."

But their opponent was Patin.

He, too, had been thoroughly preparing for a coup d'état.

This wasn't something that could be solved by rushing in recklessly.

"...Then how about we ask for help?"

"Help from whom?"

"Kwangwoon. I understand that Sentinel, Kwangwoon's army, has established a presence in Russia as well."

Kwangwoon was the one who had created this entire situation.

And yet here they were, having to ask Kwangwoon for help. The irony was bitter.

"Can you make contact?"

"Yes."

If they provoked Patin the wrong way, more than half the people in this room would end up dead.

But if seasoned veterans devised the plan and carried it out, then perhaps, just perhaps, they could end all this madness with minimal casualties.

"Reach out to them. Tell them to give us an opportunity."

If Sentinel accepted, there was only one thing these men needed to prepare.

A nice, warm cup of black tea.