At a glance
- Korean crypto exchanges would have to report each cross-border transfer to the Bank of Korea (BOK) by 11:00 the next business day from 3 Dec, under a draft BOK manual described by Yonhap and the Seoul Economic Daily on Friday.
- The draft also seeks monthly balances for every user with a cross-border transfer since 19 Jul 2024. That is 1,272,878 people at the five largest exchanges, according to a lawmaker’s office. A senior BOK official said the bank may narrow it.
The manual turns the finance ministry’s reporting decree into a daily routine for exchanges, both outlets reported, citing a copy obtained by People Power Party lawmaker Park Soo-young.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) proposed the decree behind it on 7 Oct. Public comments on that decree close on Monday, 26 Oct.
CryptoWatchDesk has not seen the manual. This account is based on the two Korean reports, and the BOK has described the document as a draft.
What the draft asks for
The BOK delivered the manual on 2 Oct to DAXA (Digital Asset eXchange Alliance), the self-regulatory group of the won-market exchanges, Yonhap reported.
Exchanges would report transfers completed each day, in and out, according to both outlets. Fields include the time, the coin and quantity, the value in won, fees, and sender and recipient details. Yonhap said resident registration numbers are among them.
Weekend and holiday transfers could be filed together on the next business day, the Seoul Economic Daily reported. Typical cases are buying bitcoin on a Korean exchange and sending it to a foreign exchange, or withdrawing it to a personal wallet. Transfers directly between personal wallets, with no exchange involved, would not be reported.
The monthly report would list each covered user’s month-end holdings and won balance, plus that month’s flows. It would be due by 17:30 on the 10th of the following month. Dormant accounts, delisted coins and staked assets would count, Yonhap reported.
The part that may change
Exchanges have complained that reaching back to July 2024 is technically hard and that they lack staff, a senior BOK official told the Seoul Economic Daily. “We are considering easing it so it applies from 3 December, when the law takes effect,” the official said, adding that the bank is also weighing a “significant” cut to the balance-reporting scope (our translations from Korean).
The bank is also looking at lighter requirements for small, low-volume operators, the paper reported.
A BOK official told Yonhap the bank is in fresh talks on counting only users with transfers after December. The bank is seeking a balance between the burden on firms and effective monitoring, the official said.
What exchanges say
Exchanges plan to extract the data and pass it to DAXA, which would compile it for the BOK, the Seoul Economic Daily reported on Sunday. One exchange official told the paper DAXA has no in-house developers and is relying on an outside vendor, and questioned whether the system would be ready in time.
Another said talks with the BOK on privacy concerns over the 2024 records are still going on. The same report said firms object to new reporting duties arriving while a broader digital asset law remains stalled.
Why it matters: this would give the central bank a transaction-level record of crypto leaving and entering Korea, which is shared with the tax and customs authorities. It comes as the government also weighs a fourth delay of the 22% crypto tax.
What’s next
Comments on the MOEF decree close on 26 Oct. The BOK plans to settle the final reporting format in November after talks with the ministry and exchanges, both outlets reported. The amended Foreign Exchange Transaction Act takes effect on 3 Dec.
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This article is for information only and is not investment advice.