NINE YEARS ON ICE, KOREA ROLLS THE digital asset DICE
Which Top-20 digital assets Will Benefit From Korea’s Corporate Entry? South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has formally finalised new guidelines that allow organisations to trade digital assets, lifting a nine-year restriction that had been in effect since 2017.
The action indicates increased regulatory recognition of digital assets as an investable asset class and represents an important change in the nation’s digital asset policy.
Up to 5% of the equity capital of registered professional investment firms and listed corporations may be allocated to digital assets under the new system. Only the top 20 digital assets by market capitalisation that are listed on the five main exchanges in South Korea will be eligible for investment.
Once the regulations go into force, about 3,500 qualified organisations should be able to use them, possibly opening up the local digital asset market to tens of trillions of won.
The FSC had previously promised a gradual relaxation of corporate digital asset regulations in February 2025 and initially discussed the revised guidelines with its digital asset working group on January 6.
The proposal is in line with the government’s larger 2026 Economic Growth Strategy, which also calls for the approval of spot digital asset ETFs and the regulation of stablecoins.
Due to a long-standing restriction, South Korea’s market is mostly dominated by retail. Nearly all domestic digital asset trading is done by retail dealers, and when investors relocated outside, capital outflows totalled 76 trillion won ($52 billion).
In contrast, during the first half of 2024, institutional participants accounted for more than 80% of Coinbase’s trading activity.
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