South Korean Funeral Firm Loses 33 Million on Crypto ETF Bet

Bumo Sarang, a Seoul-based funeral services provider, has reported an unrealized loss of approximately $33 million after investing customer prepaid funds into a highly volatile, leveraged crypto ETF [1]. The company, which is the seventh-largest provider of its kind in South Korea, funnels monthly payments from clients into long-term savings for end-of-life services [2].

The firm allocated roughly $40 million—or 59.5 billion won—into the T-REX 2X Long BMNR Daily Target ETF [2]. This financial product is designed to deliver 200% of the daily returns of BitMine Immersion Technologies, a company that holds significant amounts of Ethereum [1]. By the end of 2025, the value of that position had cratered to approximately $6.8 million, or 10.2 billion won [2]. The loss is equivalent to roughly eight times the company’s annual revenue [1].

The investment strategy backfired due to the dual impact of a sharp decline in crypto markets and the nature of leveraged products, which suffer from volatility decay in choppy trading environments [2]. Despite the massive shortfall, Bumo Sarang has not announced plans to exit the position, characterizing the loss as a temporary market fluctuation that it can cover using its existing financial buffer [2].

The incident has drawn intense scrutiny because the funds involved were intended for guaranteed funeral services, often referred to in South Korea as "coffin money" [1]. Currently, the sector is overseen by the Fair Trade Commission as a prepaid installment business rather than a financial institution, meaning it is not subject to the same strict oversight as banks or investment firms [2]. Under existing regulations, funeral companies are only required to hold half of their customer prepayments in reserve, leaving the remaining 50% available for high-risk investments [2].

A review of 75 providers by the Korea Economic Daily found that 43% of these firms currently hold fewer assets than the total value of the prepayments they owe to customers [2]. In response to the Bumo Sarang disclosure, six bills have been introduced in the National Assembly that aim to ban speculative investments and related-party lending within the funeral industry [2].

Whether these legislative efforts will pass in time to protect remaining prepaid balances remains the central question for regulators in Seoul. For now, the security of customer funeral arrangements remains tied directly to the future performance of BitMine and the broader Ethereum market [2].