South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party is reportedly working on a draft bill that would bring stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets under the country’s existing financial regulatory framework. The proposed legislation, cited by the Seoul Economic Daily, is drawn from an integrated draft of the Digital Asset Basic Act. The outlet reported on Wednesday that the bill would classify stablecoins used in cross-border transactions as “means of payment” under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
Under the proposed rules, businesses involved in cross-border stablecoin transactions would fall under regulatory oversight even without separate registration requirements. The draft would also require issuers of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) to place the underlying assets in managed trusts governed by the Capital Markets Act. These measures are intended to tighten supervision of cross-border capital flows and establish custody standards for tokenized asset issuers.
The draft bill also includes several additional provisions affecting stablecoin operations. Certain stablecoin payments for goods and services would reportedly be exempt from foreign exchange reporting requirements within a defined scope. However, issuers would be prohibited from paying interest to holders of value-stable digital assets, regardless of how such incentives are described or labeled.
The draft would further require the Financial Services Commission to establish technical standards designed to ensure interoperability across digital asset networks. This requirement reflects a broader effort to integrate digital asset infrastructure with existing financial systems. Notably, the report indicates that key issues such as exchange ownership limits and bank-related requirements for stablecoin issuers were not included in the current draft.
The proposed approach reflects concerns previously raised by South Korea’s central bank. On January 27, Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-yong warned that Korean won-denominated stablecoins could complicate capital-flow management and undermine foreign exchange stability. His remarks added to an ongoing national debate over how domestic stablecoins should be regulated and supervised.
Progress on the Digital Asset Basic Act has not been without obstacles. Disagreements over stablecoin oversight and issuer requirements had already delayed the bill as of December 31, highlighting the complexity of reaching consensus on the legislation. The omission of certain contentious provisions from the current draft suggests those disputes remain unresolved. As of Wednesday, the draft provisions had not been independently verified through a public National Assembly filing.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
