South Korean funeral services provider Bumo Sarang recorded an unrealized loss of approximately $33 million after investing customer prepaid funds in a leveraged cryptocurrency ETF. The company funneled about 59.5 billion won ($40 million) into the T-REX 2X Long BMNR Daily Target ETF, which tracks BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR), an Ethereum treasury firm. By the end of 2025, the investment's book value had plummeted to 10.2 billion won ($6.8 million). The loss was disclosed in Bumo Sarang's 2025 audit filed with the Fair Trade Commission. The company described the shortfall as temporary and claimed it could absorb the hit from its financial buffer. The incident has exposed regulatory gaps in South Korea's oversight of prepaid funeral funds, which are classified as prepaid installment businesses under the Fair Trade Commission rather than financial products. Currently, firms are only required to hold half of customer prepayments in reserve, allowing the remainder to be invested in high-risk assets. Six bills have been introduced in the National Assembly to ban speculative investments and related-party lending in the sector. Bumo Sarang has not indicated plans to unwind its position, leaving customer funds tied to volatile cryptocurrency markets.

Key facts

• Bumo Sarang lost $33M on a 2x leveraged BitMine ETF.
• The firm invested $40M of customer prepaid funds into the ETF.
• Loss was disclosed in the 2025 audit filed with regulators.
• South Korea's prepaid funeral fund rules allow risky investments.
• Six bills in parliament aim to ban speculative investments in the sector.

KeyAudit data perspective