South Korea | Crypto

South Korean crypto holdings fell to $41 billion from $83 billion in just over a year as investors shifted to stocks. The value of cryptocurrency held by South Korean investors more than halved over the past year, falling to 60.6 trillion won ($41.4 billion) by the end of February 2026 from 121.8 trillion won ($83.3 billion) at the end of January 2025. Daily trading volumes across the country’s five major exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, Coinone and Gopax, also took a hit, collapsing to $3 billion by February compared to $11.6 billion in December 2024, Korean outlet The Chosun Daily reported, citing data the Bank of Korea submitted to Rep. Cha Gyu-geun of the Rebuilding Korea Party. Won deposits held at exchanges, a proxy for investor dry powder, also fell to 7.8 trillion won from 10.7 trillion won at end-2024. The drop is attributed to a combination of falling crypto prices and capital flowing into the stock market. Read more

South Korea’s Finance Ministry has reportedly confirmed for the first time that a 22% tax on crypto gains will proceed as scheduled in January 2027. South Korea’s Finance Ministry has confirmed that a long-delayed tax on crypto gains will take effect as scheduled in January 2027. Moon Kyung-ho, director of the ministry’s income tax division, announced at an emergency parliamentary forum on virtual asset taxation held at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building in Seoul on Thursday, according to South Korea news outlet Edaily. The forum was hosted by Representative Park Soo-young of the People Power Party and the Korea Tax Policy Association. “We will proceed with virtual asset taxation as scheduled in January next year,” Moon said in what appears to be the first public confirmation from the ministry that the crypto tax framework will move forward after multiple postponements. Read more

The Korea Securities Depository platform is expected to go live by February 2027, aligning with South Korea’s incoming security token framework. Samsung SDS, Samsung’s information technology services subsidiary, will reportedly build a token securities platform for the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), moving South Korea’s central securities depository closer to operating blockchain-based securities infrastructure as the country prepares a legal framework for tokenized assets.  Samsung SDS won a contract to build and operate the platform for KSD, according to local reports from Yonhap News Agency and The Korea Times. The project is expected to be completed by February 2027 and will convert a technology verification testbed into a formal system capable of stable service operations.  KSD plans to link its existing electronic securities account system with blockchain-based distributed ledger data to strengthen tokenized securities issuance and rights management, according to the reports.  Read more

Crypto industry body DAXA said the proposed rules could push suspicious transaction reports from South Korea’s five largest exchanges to more than 5.4 million a year, Yonhap reported. South Korea’s crypto industry has reportedly warned that proposed Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rule changes could create operational confusion by forcing virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to report all overseas-linked virtual asset transfers worth 10 million Korean won (about $6,800) or more as suspicious transactions. According to a Yonhap News report on Sunday, the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), an industry body representing South Korean exchanges, submitted comments on the proposed changes to the Enforcement Decree of the Specific Financial Information Act and related supervisory rules. The comments reflected the views of 27 registered VASPs, including the country’s five major exchanges: Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax. DAXA said the proposal could increase suspicious transaction reports from South Kor...

South Korea's financial watchdog imposed a $24.6 million fine on Bithumb and partial suspension that came into effect last month.

Prosecutors say Jeong Sang-ho’s “active deceptive acts” left nearly 2,800 investors frozen out of their funds, as South Korea's crackdown on the crypto industry widens. South Korean prosecutors have requested a 20-year prison sentence for the CEO of crypto deposit service Delio, calling the scale of alleged fraud against thousands of investors “massive.” During closing arguments at the Seoul Southern District Court on Thursday, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Jeong Sang-ho under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, citing what they described as deliberate deception and false promotion that left nearly 2,800 victims without access to their funds, according to the Korean news agency Yonhap. “The defendant’s active deceptive acts and false promotion have resulted in numerous victims, and the scale of the damage is massive," prosecutors reportedly said, adding that Jeong was “exacerbating their suffering by evading responsibility and maintaining an uncooperative attitude.” Read mo...

Shinhan Card signed a deal with Solana Foundation to expand stablecoin payment tests and explore non-custodial wallets and DeFi-based services. One of South Korea’s largest credit card providers, Shinhan Card, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation to test stablecoin payment technology and explore the use of non-custodial wallets through a more advanced follow-on proof of concept (PoC).  Following a joint pilot project completed at the beginning of April, the new partnership will conduct a more “advanced” PoC to explore the commercial feasibility of stablecoin payments for merchants and customers seeking an improved payment experience, Shinhan Card announced on Thursday. The partnership will also explore developing a “hybrid financial model” that combines traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure. Read more

South Korea's tax authority is looking to build crypto transaction tracking software that can help track potential tax evaders. South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) has opened a tender for software licenses to track virtual asset transactions as part of tax evasion enforcement, according to a government procurement notice. The notice said the contract is for “virtual asset tax evasion response transaction-tracking software licenses,” with a budget of 146.5 million won (around $99,500), including value-added tax and delivery due within 30 days of contract signing. Bid submissions are scheduled for April 28 to April 30, with proposal evaluation set for May 7. The procurement notice itself gives limited detail on the software’s technical scope. However, citing an official from the NTS scientific investigation unit, local outlet ZDNet Korea reported that the software would allow officials to monitor crypto transactions in real time, visualize transfers between specific wallet addresses and exchanges, and supp...

The sandbox will test preset spending limits, timing controls and category restrictions for public sector expense payments. South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) is preparing to test blockchain-based payments for certain government expenses under a regulatory sandbox exploring distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based financial infrastructure. The ministry said on Thursday that it selected a pilot project that will use tokenized deposits to execute government operational spending, with a full rollout targeting the fourth quarter of 2026. The program will initially launch in Sejong City and will test predefined spending conditions, including limits on timing and usage categories.  Tokenized deposits are digital representations of traditional bank deposits on blockchain or other DLT infrastructure. Unlike many stablecoins, they remain bank liabilities and are designed to operate within the existing financial system. Read more

Ripple and Kyobo Life are piloting tokenized government bond settlement as South Korea builds rules for token securities and digital asset payments. Ripple has partnered with Kyobo Life Insurance, one of South Korea’s largest life insurers, to pilot blockchain-based settlement of government bonds, as Seoul moves to formalize rules for tokenized securities. Ripple Custody, Ripple’s digital asset custody solution, will support the issuance, storage and settlement of tokenized government bonds, the company said in a Wednesday announcement. The companies will also explore tokenized treasury settlement across Korea’s financial system. The project aims to replace traditional bond settlement processes, which often rely on multiple intermediaries and two-day settlement cycles, with onchain execution that enables near real-time settlement. This change could reduce counterparty risk and improve capital efficiency. Read more

The collaboration aims to bring regulated custody and staking for JitoSOL to South Korea as institutions prepare for new crypto rules. Jito Foundation has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korean digital asset custodian KODA to explore institutional custody and staking support for JitoSOL in the local market.  According to Monday’s announcement, the agreement includes outreach to institutional investors and the development of compliant custody and staking pathways. It comes as South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is expected to finalize a digital asset regulatory framework later this year. Read more

South Korea’s FSS said API trading now makes up 30% of crypto turnover and warned it will crack down on abusive automated trading patterns, local media reported Monday. South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Monday that API-based trading now accounts for about 30% of crypto buy-and-sell turnover, warning that some traders are using automated tools to inflate volumes and manipulate prices. According to reports from Yonhap News Agency and Maeil Business Newspaper, the regulator warned that some traders are using automated tools to inflate volumes and manipulate prices, citing cases involving repeated small trades, spoofed orders and coordinated activity across multiple accounts.  The FSS said it will launch targeted investigations into accounts suspected of using APIs for excessive or abnormal trading patterns, signaling closer scrutiny of automated trading activity in the market.  Read more

The decision closes a legal battle spanning more than a year, after Dunamu moved to overturn the sanction and halt its enforcement. A South Korean court has canceled the Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) three-month partial business suspension of Dunamu, the operator of crypto exchange Upbit, according to local reports. Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday that the Seoul Administrative Court sided with Dunamu in its lawsuit against the FIU, overturning the sanction tied to alleged Anti-Money Laundering (AML) violations.  The court said clear rules existed for transactions above 1 million won (about $675), but found that regulations for smaller transfers were not specific enough, weakening the basis for enforcement within the case.  Read more

The Financial Services Commission said inconsistent exemption rules created loopholes that allowed funds to move quickly with minimal account history. South Korea’s financial regulator said it will tighten the exception rules under crypto exchanges’ withdrawal-delay system after finding that scam-linked accounts granted exemptions accounted for most voice-phishing-related losses.  The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Wednesday that the strengthened framework, developed with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA), will impose unified standards on when users can bypass withdrawal delays.  The regulator said exchanges had been applying their own exception criteria with no clear minimum standard, creating loopholes that let bad actors quickly move funds if they meet easy requirements such as account age or trading history.  Read more

The draft proposal from South Korea’s ruling party reportedly bars stablecoin interest and calls for technical standards to ensure interoperability across blockchain networks. South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party is reportedly preparing a draft bill that would classify stablecoins as foreign exchange payment instruments and require tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) to be backed by assets held in trust.  Citing an integrated draft of the proposed Digital Asset Basic Act, the Seoul Economic Daily reported on Wednesday that stablecoins used in cross-border transactions would be treated as “means of payment” under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, placing related businesses under oversight even without separate registration. The draft bill would also require issuers of tokenized RWAs to place underlying assets in managed trusts under the Capital Markets Act.  Read more

An inspection found slow reconciliation cycles and weak trade-halting systems across major crypto exchanges. South Korea has ordered all crypto exchanges to reconcile their internal ledgers with actual asset holdings every five minutes after an inspection uncovered weaknesses in internal controls. The directive was announced on Monday by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) after a meeting with top crypto exchanges and the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA), during which they discussed the findings of an emergency inspection triggered by the Bithumb payout incident. The inspection found that three of the country’s five major exchanges were reconciling balances only once every 24 hours, limiting their ability to respond quickly to discrepancies. Systems designed to halt trading during major mismatches were also found to be insufficient, raising concerns about how exchanges would handle large-scale errors. Read more

South Korea’s tax agency is seeking a private custodian for seized crypto after a wallet seed phrase leak exposed government-held assets. South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) is moving to select a private custody provider for seized crypto assets after a February press release exposed a wallet recovery phrase and triggered the unauthorized transfer of confiscated tokens. On Feb. 26, the NTS accidentally exposed a crypto wallet seed phrase in an official press release, resulting in the unauthorized transfer of crypto tokens valued at about $4.8 million. The release included an image of a Ledger cold wallet and a sheet of paper showing the mnemonic phrase without being blurred.  Citing people familiar with the matter, ZDNet Korea reported that the agency is reviewing a plan to outsource custody of confiscated crypto and is drafting selection criteria for providers. The NTS is reportedly aiming to select a provider within the first half of 2026.  Read more

The ruling Democratic Party responded, saying it has not formed a consensus on abolishing the tax but will review the new proposal. South Korea’s main opposition party has proposed scrapping a planned crypto tax ahead of its 2027 rollout, citing fairness, double taxation and enforcement concerns. According to a Thursday report by local media outlet eDaily, the conservative People Power Party (PPP) introduced a bill to amend the country’s Income Tax Act and remove provisions on digital asset income, aiming to abolish a planned tax on crypto asset gains ahead of its 2027 implementation. Under the upcoming rules, crypto gains exceeding 2.5 million Korean won will be subject to a 20% income tax and an additional 2% local tax starting on Jan. 1, 2027. The measure has already been delayed three times since its initial introduction.  Read more

Regulators found 6.65 million AML violations at Bithumb, including 45,772 crypto transfers involving 18 unregistered overseas VASPs. South Korea has fined crypto exchange Bithumb 36.8 billion won (about $24.5 million) and imposed a six-month partial business suspension after finding widespread violations of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules, according to a Yonhap News Agency report.  According to Yonhap, regulators identified about 6.65 million violations during an AML inspection, including failures related to customer identity verification, transaction restrictions and record-keeping requirements. Authorities found Bithumb facilitated 45,772 crypto transfers involving 18 unregistered overseas virtual asset service providers (VASPs), in violation of South Korea’s AML rules.  The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission (FSC) reportedly decided on the penalties following a sanctions deliberation committee meeting reviewing the exchange’s compliance with the Act on Reporting and...

Hana Financial Group will collaborate with Standard Chartered on digital assets following its stablecoin partnership with USDC issuer Circle earlier in March. Hana Financial Group, one of South Korea’s largest financial conglomerates, has partnered with Standard Chartered on finance and digital assets. On Sunday, Hana Financial said it signed a business agreement with the United Kingdom’s Standard Chartered Group (SC Group) for cooperation in global financial business and digital asset fields, Yonhap News reported. The agreement covers collaboration in various global financial sectors, including investment banking, money markets, foreign exchange and digital assets. Read more