South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSC) officially launched an urgent consultation process in February 2025, widely soliciting advice from securities companies on stablecoin issuance, settlement, and regulatory frameworks. This move, aimed at addressing the structural imbalances caused by the excessive dominance of commercial banks in the digital asset market, marks a crucial step in South Korea's stablecoin regulatory path.
The consultation, jointly promoted by the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA), focuses on gathering industry expertise in five core areas: the design of stablecoin distribution mechanisms, the standardization needs of settlement infrastructure, investor protection measures, market liquidity stabilization plans, and the interoperability path with existing financial systems. These issues directly address the key bottlenecks in the current digital asset ecosystem.
For a long time, the South Korean securities industry has been deeply concerned about the dominance of commercial banks in the digital asset field. Currently, the vast majority of security token offerings (STOs)' custody services, settlement systems, and compliance interfaces are controlled by large commercial banks, making it difficult for securities companies to participate equally in market innovation. At the same time, banking institutions continue to expand their digital asset service territory, while securities companies are limited by the existing regulatory framework and find it difficult to carry out similar businesses, highlighting the increasing inequality in market access.
This controversy is not sudden. Since South Korea introduced strict cryptocurrency regulatory policies in 2017, the regulatory thinking has gradually shifted from "suppression" to "regulation and guidance." In 2023, South Korea officially legislated to clarify the legal status of security tokens, but the regulatory framework for stablecoins has long been in a gray area. This consultation is seen as an important attempt to fill this gap and promote regulatory balance.
International regulatory trends are also influencing South Korea. Many European and American countries are accelerating the formulation of stablecoin rules, emphasizing multi-party collaboration and risk isolation. South Korea's proactive absorption of brokerage voices this time is intended to build a more inclusive and forward-looking regulatory ecosystem, avoiding excessive concentration of market resources in the traditional financial system.
The industry generally believes that if the results of this consultation can be implemented, it is expected to restructure the power structure of the South Korean digital asset market, open up institutional channels for securities companies to participate in the stablecoin ecosystem, and ultimately promote the market to develop in a healthier and more diversified direction.