#韩国加密政策 South Korea's cryptocurrency policy mainly includes the following aspects:
Regulation of Trading Platforms
- "Virtual Asset User Protection Act": This imposes stricter compliance requirements on trading platforms, including asset custody mechanisms, insider trading prevention, and user asset segregation management. Virtual asset service providers are required to separate user funds from their own, maintained by reputable institutions, a certain percentage of deposits must be stored in cold wallets, insurance or reserves must be purchased, and transaction records must be kept for 15 years.
Tax Policy
The implementation of the virtual asset transfer income tax, originally planned for 2025, has been postponed to 2027. The ruling party had planned to impose a 20% tax rate (including local tax of 22%) on cryptocurrency gains exceeding the tax-exempt threshold, with the exemption limit raised from 2.5 million won to 50 million won.
Industry Development Policy
- Promoting the legalization of ETFs: Advocating for the legalization of spot virtual asset ETFs to provide a more compliant and convenient entry channel for institutional investors and retail investors.
- Guiding pension investments: Directing the large Korean National Pension Fund (approximately 884 billion USD) to allocate to crypto assets.
- Building a stablecoin system: Establishing a stablecoin system pegged to the Korean won to prevent capital outflow and strengthen the financial sovereignty of the local currency.
- Establishing a regulatory bureau: The government plans to lead the market restructuring, reduce transaction fees, establish a comprehensive regulatory system, and promote the establishment of a dedicated digital asset regulatory bureau.
Latest Regulatory Developments
Starting from June 2025, non-profit organizations will be allowed to sell cryptocurrencies obtained through donations, and exchanges will be able to liquidate the crypto assets within user fees. The Financial Services Commission requires exchanges and banks to strengthen KYC reviews of the sources of funds and trading purposes for new institutional clients, and will monitor money laundering activities of institutions and CEOs. Plans are in place to allow listed companies and professional investors to trade on exchanges in the second half of the year while strengthening AML regulation.