South Korea | Crypto

Policy report recommends interim licensing guidance, greater flexibility for stablecoin issuers and rules ahead of the Digital Asset Basic Act. South Korea should allow greater flexibility for stablecoin issuers, provide interim licensing guidance and phase in stablecoin regulation before completing its Digital Asset Basic Act, according to a policy report published Wednesday by Hashed Open Research and the Solana Policy Institute. The report summarizes a June 23 symposium attended by lawmakers, legal experts and industry participants. The Digital Asset Basic Act would establish South Korea’s first comprehensive digital asset framework, covering stablecoins, issuance, disclosures and market rules. However, lawmakers have yet to reconcile multiple bills, with disagreements over stablecoin issuance delaying the legislation. Read more

The FSC reportedly plans a government-backed digital asset bill covering stablecoins and exchanges, while opposition lawmakers seek to scrap a 22% crypto tax due in 2027. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) reportedly plans to draft a consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act with the ruling Democratic Party, giving lawmakers a government-backed proposal covering stablecoins and the broader cryptocurrency market after months of delays. According to an Edaily report published Wednesday, the FSC told the National Assembly ahead of a policy briefing that it intends to introduce a consolidated bill. The proposal would reportedly cover stablecoin issuance and circulation, digital asset business rules, exchange entry requirements, disclosures, internal controls and system-resilience standards. A consolidated government-ruling party proposal could provide a central framework for negotiations. At the moment, 10 separate digital asset and stablecoin bills are already pending in Parliament, while disagreements...

Bitcoin dropped to $63,582 on July 28 as $100M in leveraged positions were wiped in 60 minutes — the third flush at $64K this week. Here's the technical picture and what's next. The post South Korea’s Stock Market Triggered 8th Circuit Breaker of 2026: Bitcoin Liquidated 3 Times Near $64,000 appeared first on Cryptonews.

South Korea’s largest lender will use JPMorgan’s blockchain platform to support US dollar cross-border payments for import and export businesses across 10 countries. South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank will launch a blockchain-based cross-border payment service for import and export businesses in August using JPMorgan’s Kinexys network, according to multiple local media reports. Kinexys, formerly known as Onyx, is JPMorgan’s blockchain platform for institutional payments, tokenization and digital assets. The service will initially support US dollar transfers across 10 countries, including the US, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Read more

Mirae Asset reportedly plans to use the South Korean crypto exchange as a hub for tokenized assets, stablecoins and digital finance. South Korean crypto exchange Korbit will reportedly rebrand as Digital X after becoming part of Mirae Asset Group.  Mirae Asset founder and global strategy officer Park Hyeon-joo announced the new name in an internal email to employees on Thursday, according to a Herald Business report. Park reportedly described Digital X as central to the group’s “Mirae Asset 3.0” strategy, which aims to combine digital assets with traditional finance.  The company plans to expand into real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, security token offerings, stablecoins and traditional asset products. Park said the exchange would prioritize anti-money laundering controls, customer verification, information security and fraud detection as South Korea develops its crypto and tokenized securities rules. Read more

Korbit, South Korea's first cryptocurrency exchange, has joined the Mirae Asset Group family, marking the first time a traditional Korean financial group's affiliate has taken a controlling stake in a domestic crypto exchange.

Trading activity on South Korea’s five major crypto exchanges fell sharply as the KOSPI surged, signaling a shift in retail investors toward equities. South Korea’s major crypto exchanges have seen their trading activity fall sharply over the past year as the country’s stock market surged, suggesting retail speculative interest may be shifting toward equities, Cointelegraph analysis shows. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) benchmark more than doubled over the period, while volumes across the country’s largest won-based crypto platforms contracted. Cointelegraph reviewed CoinGecko’s historical 24-hour volume readings for Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax, comparing seven-day periods in July 2025 and July 2026. Read more

The Bank of Korea’s CBDC pilot will add two regional banks, new payment features and tests of government subsidy payments using tokenized bank deposits The Bank of Korea may launch the second phase of Project Hangang, its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot, as early as September, according to Yonhap News. The next stage expands participation to nine banks from seven, introduces new payment features and tests government subsidy disbursements through tokenized bank deposits. Regional lenders Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank will join the existing group of participants. Project Hangang uses a blockchain-based wholesale CBDC issued by the central bank as the settlement asset for deposit tokens issued by commercial banks. Consumers can then use the bank-issued tokens for everyday payments. Read more

Financial Services Commission Chair Lee Eog-won posted the figures on the second anniversary of the enactment of the Virtual Asset User Protection Act. South Korea’s financial authorities investigated more than 40 cases of unfair trading, including market manipulation and fraudulent crypto trading, in the last two years.  According to an X post by Financial Services Commission Chair Lee Eog-won, 30 cases were reported to or referred to investigative agencies, which identified 25 suspects since the Virtual Asset User Protection Act took effect in July 2024. Lee said the average unlawful gains were around 1.4 billion Korean won ($940,000). Read more

South Korea’s Economy Ministry plans to include digital assets and intellectual property under the country’s new state-asset management framework. South Korea plans to adopt the National Asset Basic Act to update the country’s state asset management system from the outdated State Property Act of 1950. The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) hopes to modernize the management of national assets and explicitly includes digital assets and intellectual property, broadening the definition of state assets, the MOEF announced during a briefing at the President’s Blue House on Wednesday. As part of the reform, the ministry also reiterated plans to tokenize government bonds on a blockchain to reduce transaction, as part of a 2027 pilot project. It also plans to explore the tokenization of state-owned real estate to encourage retail participation and share part of the generated returns with the public. Read more

The July 14 snapshot stayed 27% below the 30-point average despite two successive increases. The post South Korea’s 8% stock crash set up a crypto rotation but Upbit volume rose just 4% appeared first on CryptoSlate.

South Korea will test tokenized government bonds linked to the Bank of Korea’s wholesale CBDC system in 2027 as token securities rules take effect. South Korea plans to conduct a 2027 pilot linking tokenized government bonds to its institutional central bank digital currency (CBDC) infrastructure, moving sovereign debt tokenization from a proposal to an official government timeline.  On Tuesday, the government unveiled its 2026 Economic Growth Strategy for the Second Half, which includes the plan. In addition to assigning a date for the pilot, the strategy said authorities would study how to make the Bank of Korea's (BOK) CBDC infrastructure interoperable with other blockchains, enabling a potential connection between external distributed ledgers and the bank’s permissioned system.  The project would test whether South Korea’s wholesale CBDC, designed for use by financial institutions, can support capital markets infrastructure, rather than serving only as a digital payment instrument. Read more

South Korea’s media and communications review body will hear from Polymarket before deciding whether to issue a corrective request against the prediction market platform. South Korea’s media and communications review body said it will hear from Polymarket before deciding whether to take corrective action against the prediction market platform.  On Monday, the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Review Committee said it would allow Polymarket to submit its position before making a final decision on a corrective request regarding gambling concerns.  “We decided to provide an opportunity for Polymarket to submit its opinion to thoroughly verify the legality of Polymarket and the way the service is operated,” the committee said, according to a machine translation of the press release. Read more

Chainlink's Project Pangea partnership with 50+ banks managing $10T in assets hasn't moved LINK price. Here's the technical setup, three price scenarios, and what catalyst traders should watch next. The post Chainlink Lands Major Banking Deal Across Europe and South Korea: Why Isn’t LINK Crypto Price Moving? appeared first on Cryptonews.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has placed token securities infrastructure within a wider capital-market modernization plan covering faster settlement, longer trading hours and digital transformation. South Korea’s financial regulator folded token securities infrastructure into a broader overhaul of the country’s capital markets, alongside plans for faster settlement, longer trading hours and greater use of artificial intelligence. On Tuesday, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said it had launched a capital market infrastructure review meeting to coordinate reforms across government agencies and market operators. According to the FSC, plans for token securities will be further discussed separately through a public-private council before being linked to the wider initiative. The initiative includes a roadmap for shortening the securities settlement cycle, expected by October, and a Korea Securities Depository (KSD) system for settling over-the-counter trades in unlisted shares and fractional ...

South Korea’s FIU is calling for broader crypto transfer reporting rules during FATF talks, citing offshore risks and uneven global AML enforcement. Financial regulators in South Korea are pushing for broader reporting requirements on crypto transfers to further align with global Anti-Money Laundering standards for digital assets. South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) raised proposals to expand the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Travel Rule requirements to smaller crypto transfers during a plenary meeting in Paris last week, according to an announcement on Monday. The crypto Travel Rule is a global AML standard that requires crypto exchanges to share sender and recipient information for transfers above certain thresholds. It is designed to improve the traceability of funds moving between platforms. Read more

South Korean lawmaker Kim Byung-gi faces probe over alleged nepotism tied to his son’s crypto jobs as police raid Bithumb's offices. South Korean police have reportedly raided Bithumb as part of an investigation into alleged nepotism involving independent lawmaker Kim Byung-gi. Kim allegedly attempted to influence employment opportunities for his son at multiple crypto firms, including Bithumb and Dunamu, the operator of rival exchange Upbit, according to a Monday report by News1. Kim’s son joined Bithumb in January 2025 and worked there for about six months, the local outlet reported. Authorities are investigating whether any external pressure or preferential treatment influenced the hiring process. Read more

South Korean police reportedly launched the country’s first illegal gambling probe into local Polymarket users amid election-betting scrutiny. South Korean police have reportedly launched the country’s first illegal gambling probe into local Polymarket users, widening regulatory scrutiny of the decentralized prediction market. The investigation is led by Gangwon Provincial Police and was requested by the National Police Agency, according to ChosunBiz.  Users may face fines of up to 10 million won ($6,500) under Article 246 of the Criminal Act covering gambling and habitual gambling. Under current law, Sports Toto is the state-authorized sports betting platform, while unauthorized online betting can be prosecuted under South Korean gambling laws. Read more

South Korean prosecutors reportedly charged a group over the CATFI memecoin rug pull, marking the country’s first DEX rug-pull case under crypto law. South Korean prosecutors charged a group in an alleged rug pull involving the Solana-based memecoin Catpie, or CATFI, in what local media described as the country’s first decentralized exchange (DEX) rug-pull prosecution. The group was reportedly apprehended by the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Virtual Asset Crime Joint Investigation Division. The main suspect, surnamed Park, allegedly posed as “Eth Father” on social media platforms and falsely promoted CATFI as an independent third-party before executing a rug pull that caused about 900 million won ($599,000) in financial damage to at least 256 investors, local news outlet Digital Asset Works said Wednesday. Prosecutors allege the group promoted CATFI on social media, drove the token’s price up more than 1,000-fold within 26 hours and then sold their holdings for about 400 million won ($260,000)...

Critics say the new 22% crypto tax, set to take effect in 2027, unfairly favors other asset classes with a much lower tax burden. A petition to scrap a 22% tax on crypto investment gains in South Korea reached the 50,000-signature threshold required for the country’s Finance and Economic Planning Committee to review objections to the new tax regime. The 22% tax, set to take effect in January 2027, imposes financial and reporting “burdens” on investors, while also limiting upward mobility for younger individuals, who are locked out of housing markets due to skyrocketing real estate prices, according to the petition. The petition now has more than 52,000 signatures. Source: South Korea Assembly Read more