【Block Rhythm】South Korea's stablecoin policy under financial regulation is undergoing a major shift.
On January 8, news emerged that South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has changed its previous stance and now supports the Bank of Korea (BOK)'s approach—imposing stricter thresholds for stablecoin issuance. Simply put, in the future, stablecoins can only be issued by bank-led consortiums, and banks must hold the majority stake.
The specific rules are as follows: consortiums can issue stablecoins, but banks must maintain controlling equity of over 50%. Tech companies are allowed to participate, but their shareholding ratio must be lower than the overall shareholding of banks. In other words, traditional financial institutions occupy absolute dominance here.
The policy adjustment behind this actually reflects disagreements among the ruling party, financial regulatory authorities, and the central bank. Legislators had objections to banks' plan to issue Korean won stablecoins, but ultimately compromised.
For crypto trading platforms, the days ahead may become more