The Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea is drafting new guidelines that will allow listed companies to allocate digital assets within a compliance framework for the first time, marking a significant policy shift since the comprehensive ban in 2017. According to the current draft, companies can invest up to 5% of their equity in crypto assets, limited to the top 20 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, while USDT, USDC, and other dollar-pegged stablecoins are temporarily excluded.
This 5% cap reflects the regulators' balance between openness and risk control: it provides companies with the opportunity to participate in emerging asset classes while avoiding excessive exposure to highly volatile markets. The core reasons for excluding stablecoins are twofold: first, risk control, as regulators are concerned that allowing companies to hold stablecoins during the immature phase of the institutional market could trigger systemic financial risks due to potential de-pegging events; second, legal conflicts, as under South Korea's current Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, stablecoins are not recognized as legal payment instruments. Allowing them as investment targets while prohibiting their use for commercial settlements would create a logical contradiction. Therefore, regulators have chosen to temporarily set this aside until subsequent legislation clarifies the matter.
It is noteworthy that this exclusion is not a final decision. An official from the Financial Supervisory Service clarified on March 7 that there is currently no final consensus, and the media's claim of a “comprehensive ban on stablecoins” is a misinterpretation. The relevant draft is still in the public consultation phase, and the final positioning of stablecoins remains uncertain.
In the long term, South Korea is simultaneously advancing the legislative process for the Digital Asset Basic Law, which is expected to be introduced by 2026. This legislation may introduce a localized stablecoin model, requiring that any stablecoin project issued in Korea must have at least 51% ownership by local banks, thereby ensuring the financial system's dominance over stablecoin infrastructure and reducing reliance on overseas entities like Tether and Circle.
The current corporate crypto trading guidelines and the future Digital Asset Basic Law represent two parallel policy paths: the former opens the crypto market to institutional investors, while the latter establishes an independent regulatory framework for stablecoins. Together, they shape the future landscape of digital finance in South Korea.