A South Korean funeral company faces an undisclosed loss of $33 million on its Ether ETF.
South Korean funeral service company Bumo Sarang is sitting on an estimated 49.3 billion won ($32.7 million) in undisclosed losses after it poured nearly $40 million of client funds into better-performing crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Bumo Sarang has invested in the T-REX 2X Long BMNR Daily Target ETF (BMNU), which doubles the daily earnings of Ether (ETH) treasury company Bitcoin, according to the firm's 2025 audit report.
Another funeral service firm, Christian Burial Family of Faith, posted a net loss of $331,700 last year, the Korea Economic Daily reported.
The findings have renewed scrutiny of South Korea's funeral mutual aid industry, which is overseen by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) instead of financial regulators, despite the fact that it manages many customer prepaid funds.
The Korea Economic Daily reported that about 43% of domestic funeral service providers hold assets less than customers' down payments, raising concerns about whether they will be able to pay customers when some of them are canceled en masse.
Bumo Sarang Audit Report for 2025. Source: FTC
A spokesperson for Bumo Sarang told a local outlet that the company was facing “short-term unknown losses due to global market volatility” which was “adequately controlled within the company's financial buffer”.
Cointelegraph reached out to Bumo Sarang and the Faith family for comment, but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Related: South Korea's Shinhan Card Taps Solana to Test Real-World Stablecoin Payments
South Korea's capital is stacked in Ether-linked stocks in 2025.
A large South Korean retail capital has turned to tech stocks and Ethereum treasury companies in the past year.
Samson Mou, CEO of Bitcoin tech company JAN3, wrote in an Oct. 6 X post that “an estimated $6 billion in Korean retail capital is driving Ethereum treasury companies.” He added that some retail buyers do not understand the risks of investing in Ether.
ETH, BMNR, year-to-date chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
In 2026, the price of Ether fell by more than 28% and was trading above $2,118 at the time of writing. Bitmine's share price has fallen nearly 40% to $18.70 in the same period, TradingView data shows.
Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee described ether's drop below $2,200 as an “attractive opportunity” after the treasury company bought another 71,672 ether, Cointelegraph reported on Tuesday.
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