According to Tokenpost, the head of the crypto asset division at South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) told a National Assembly session that the government is advancing stablecoin-related legislation — Phase 2 of the Digital Asset Basic Act — in parallel with a plan for institutional investors to enter the crypto asset market, with digital asset legislation targeted for completion within the year. The report also noted that the “ban on financial companies holding equity in crypto asset businesses,” which has been enforced by administrative guidance since 2017, could possibly be lifted within the year. It should be noted that this site has so far only found this single Korean-language outlet’s account from Tokenpost, and has not yet located a corresponding English or Korean official announcement on the FSC official site. The specific name of the official quoted also varies across different reports, so this article does not attribute the statement to a named individual and instead defers to the official meeting record.
Editorial take: Korean USDT card users don’t need to change anything right now
Let’s start with the conclusion: this is a “legislative intent” story, not a “rule in effect” story. Between the two typically lie a statutory text, public comment periods, a National Assembly vote, enforcement-decree details, and a process that can take months or longer. For anyone actually using a USDT virtual card to spend in South Korea right now — whether that’s the Asia Elite variant of MPCard, Bybit Card, or RedotPay — today’s news changes nothing about any card’s availability, limits, or fees.
What’s genuinely worth watching isn’t the phrase “stablecoin legislation” itself, but two possible downstream changes it could bring:
- A compliant issuance framework for stablecoins. Cards currently used by Korean users are mostly funded with USDT (Tether). If Korea’s legislation ends up favoring a won-pegged stablecoin, or sets entry barriers for overseas dollar stablecoins, that could eventually affect which stablecoins exchanges list — and in turn, top-up pathways. But that’s a variable well beyond a 90-day horizon, not something to worry about this month.
- Institutional entry and bank attitudes. If the 2017 ownership ban is lifted, financial institutions would be able to hold equity in crypto companies, which in theory could smooth cooperation between banks, exchanges, and card issuers. But the direct, felt impact for individual cardholders remains close to zero in the short term.
If you’re comparing card options for Korea, see our Best Cards for Korea roundup, where all fee and limit figures are sourced from each issuer’s official pages.
Historical comparison: an intent announcement is not the same as a rule going live
Placed on the Asia-Pacific regulatory timeline, this news reads more as a “signal” than a “turning point.”
Compare Japan: Japan passed an amendment to the Payment Services Act in 2022 bringing stablecoins under regulation, which formally took effect in June 2023 — roughly a year between passage and enforcement, and even after enforcement, overseas stablecoins still require case-by-case approval to launch in Japan. Korea’s current stage — an official telling the National Assembly that legislation will advance within the year — is a step earlier than Japan’s 2022 milestone of “the bill has passed.”
Compare the EU’s MiCAR: from proposal in 2020, to formal publication in 2023, to phased entry into force of the stablecoin provisions in 2024 — the whole process spanned four years. For issues touching monetary sovereignty like stablecoins, there is essentially no precedent for “announcement equals effective immediately.”
So how is this time different from the past? Honestly, from an enforceability standpoint, there’s no fundamental difference — political intent comes first, followed by a long legislative process either way. The one real difference: South Korea is bundling “stablecoin legislation” together with “institutional entry” and pushing both in parallel. That combined signal is clearer than pushing either alone, and it suggests the regulatory direction is “bring it under management, not ban it.” For long-term cardholders, that’s a somewhat positive context.
Compliance boundary: stablecoins in Korea currently sit in a “gray zone pending legislation”
It’s worth being precise about the current legal status. South Korea has not explicitly banned individuals from holding or using overseas stablecoins, but there is also no dedicated stablecoin legal framework yet — which is exactly the gap this legislation is meant to fill. In other words, funding a virtual card with USDT in Korea currently sits in an “unregulated gray zone,” not in a category that is either “clearly permitted” or “clearly banned.”
One note: this site does not maintain a standalone Korea compliance page, so we are not placing a compliance internal link for the Korea scenario to avoid giving a misleading impression. If your usage spans other jurisdictions, our Japan compliance guide may be useful — Japan is the most advanced and clearest example of stablecoin legislation progress in the Asia-Pacific region, and offers a useful reference point for judging where Korea might head next.
Milestones worth watching next
- The official FSC text. Until a formal draft or public-comment version of Digital Asset Basic Act Phase 2 appears on the FSC official site, everything remains “verbal intent.” This is the single document most worth waiting for.
- Whether the ownership ban is actually lifted. A formal announcement repealing the 2017 administrative guidance would be the first hard signal that institutional entry has moved into practical implementation.
- How won-based stablecoins are positioned versus dollar stablecoins. How the draft legislation defines the status of overseas dollar stablecoins (such as USDT) directly affects whether the funding currency behind your card could be affected down the line.
- Compliance responses from major exchanges. Bybit and card issuers with a presence in Korea typically adjust their Korea-region policies once the regulatory direction becomes clear — their announcements often signal real-world change earlier than the legislation itself.
Editorial recommendations
- Korean users holding MPCard, Bybit Card, or RedotPay: no action is needed right now. This news does not change any card’s availability, and it has not triggered any top-up or spending restrictions.
- Users planning to apply for a new card: there’s no need to hold off because of this news. Legislative cycles run in quarters or years; there’s plenty of time to decide once “intent” becomes “detailed rules.” What you can do now is simply consult Best Cards for Korea and choose based on your own spending scenario, as usual.
- Don’t make asset-level decisions based on a single secondary report. This article relies solely on one Korean-language outlet’s account, and the official text has not yet been published. Until FSC releases a formal draft, any inference along the lines of “Korea is going to ban USDT” or “Korea is going to push a won stablecoin as a replacement” is overreach.
We will update this article once FSC publishes a formal draft or an announcement repealing the ownership ban.