Frustration Grows as S Korea’s Stablecoin Legislation ‘Slows to Standstill’

Crypto advocates, IT experts, and media outlets are concerned that lawmakers’ deliberations on South Korea’s stablecoin legislation have “slowed to a standstill.” The South Korean newspaper Busan Ilbo reported that all four stablecoin-related draft laws submitted to the National Assembly in recent months are currently stuck in the committee ￰4￱ National Assembly building in Seoul, South Korea. () S Korea’s Stablecoin Legislation: Stuck in Committee The bills’ delay, the newspaper wrote, is due to the fact that regulators and lawmakers cannot agree on key ￰5￱ Ilbo wrote: “Discussions on institutionalizing stablecoins in South Korea are stuck at a ￰6￱ stems from persistent disagreements between the National Assembly, the government, and the Bank of Korea (BOK).” The outlet noted that the parties cannot agree on the question of whether they should let fintech and IT firms issue ￰7￱ conservative voices at the BOK and in the government want to restrict issuance to domestic commercial ￰8￱ bank branches shrinks 20% since pandemic, but agency banking pilot stalls ￰0￱ — The Korea Times (@koreatimescokr) August 24, 2025 The question of whether or not to let fintech firms issue KRW-pegged coins is extremely sensitive in South ￰9￱ country’s business space is dominated by large conglomerates known as ￰10￱ of these firms have advanced finance and tech ￰11￱ recent years, internet giants such as Naver and Kakao have also moved into the ￰12￱ BOK and others fear that letting firms issue KRW-pegged coins will lead to the rise of big tech-controlled “private currencies.” Historically, chaebol have wielded enormous political and financial influence in South ￰13￱ BOK is concerned that surrendering its monopoly on currency issuance to these firms (or new tech giants like Naver) will erode its power.

Conversely, the BOK exercises considerable regulatory powers over the commercial banking ￰14￱ such, it seems ready to dig its heels in on the ￰15￱ than 16 Korean business leaders, including the heads of the country’s four major conglomerates, will accompany President Lee Jae Myung as part of a business delegation to support the ￰16￱ scheduled for Monday. ￰1￱ — The Korea JoongAng Daily (@JoongAngDaily) August 25, 2025 Equity Requirements The four bills all feature varying requirements for stablecoin ￰17￱ most progressive of the quartet proposes ensuring issuers have a minimum of 500 million won ($360,026) in equity ￰18￱ bill would essentially open the door to startups that wish to start issuing KRW-pegged ￰19￱ the most conservative of the bills states that only firms with a minimum of 5 billion won ($3.6 million) in equity capital can enter the ￰20￱ Ilbo wrote that the review process has been divided between two of the National Assembly’s committees, namely the Political Affairs Committee and the Strategy and Finance Committee.

A Kakao taxi in Daejeon, South Korea. () This split is “hindering progress,” the outlet remarked. A senior official at a South Korean blockchain industry firm, speaking to ￰21￱ on condition of anonymity, said: “This delay is very ￰22￱ government should make up its mind quickly, either ￰23￱ rivals in other countries aren’t being left in limbo like us.” Playing Catchup with Washington South Korean critics have pointed to progress on stablecoins in Germany, China, and Japan, as well as the ￰24￱ Breakingviews – China stablecoin push is better late than never ￰2￱ ￰3￱ — Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) August 22, 2025 The Japanese Financial Services Agency is reportedly set to authorize the Tokyo-based fintech company JYPC’s bid to issue the nation’s first yen-pegged ￰25￱ in Seoul think that Berlin, Tokyo, and Beijing are all acting in response to events in Washington; keen to avoid a “unipolar” drift toward the US ￰26￱ President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July this ￰27￱ act sets out a range of regulatory requirements for would-be stablecoin ￰28￱ week, the President of the USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle Heath Tarbert held a stablecoin-themed meeting with the BOK Governor Rhee ￰29￱ also met with some of South Korea’s top ￰30￱ Circle chief spoke to top executives from financial behemoths like Kookmin, Woori, and Shinhan.