Korea Digital Asset Basic Act in final talks, FSC chief says

At a glance

Financial Services Commission (FSC) chairman Lee Eok-won told lawmakers on Thursday that inter-agency consultations on the Digital Asset Basic Act are in their “final stages”.
He declined to say which types of won-denominated stablecoin are under consideration or how a licence regime for crypto businesses would work.

Lee made the remarks at the National Assembly Political Affairs Committee’s national audit of the FSC, according to The Herald Business. The national audit is parliament’s annual review of government agencies. The FSC is Korea’s top financial regulator.

“We are in the final stages of consultation and will move quickly to wrap it up,” Lee said, as translated by The Herald Business. He said he would make every effort to advance legislation for “a sound digital asset ecosystem” as quickly as possible.

He was responding to Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Gang-il, who pointed to the US GENIUS Act and the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and argued that Korea was falling behind.

Digital Asset Basic Act: who issues a won stablecoin is still open

The lawmaker said foreign stablecoins already circulate in Korea while the question of who may issue a won-denominated one remains unsettled. He presented data showing dollar stablecoin trading in Korea of more than 6 trillion won (about $4.48 billion / €4.01 billion) in June alone, and 80 trillion won (about $59.8 billion / €53.5 billion) cumulatively through July. He also said 54% of trading in yen-denominated stablecoins listed in Korea comes from the Korean market.

Related: Korea won stablecoin debate

The trading figures were presented by the lawmaker and have not been independently confirmed by CryptoWatchDesk. Conversions use ECB reference rates for 7 Oct.

Lee Gang-il also raised concerns about concentration, citing a planned combination of Naver Financial and Upbit, Korea’s largest exchange, and the expansion of Toss into stablecoin payments.

Asked about won-stablecoin types and licensing, the FSC chairman said those were matters “to be handled as policy, taking into account market conditions and other factors”, as translated by The Herald Business.

Why it matters: the Basic Act would set the rules for a won stablecoin and for crypto business licences in one of Asia’s most active retail markets. “Final stages” still leaves the key design question, who may issue, unanswered. It comes a day after the finance ministry proposed routing cross-border crypto transfers through the Bank of Korea’s reporting network.

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This article is for information only and is not investment advice.