🇰🇷 South Korea Opens Cryptocurrency Market to Businesses, but Financial Companies are Excluded

The South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) recently announced a new policy allowing more businesses and organizations to participate legally in cryptocurrency trading. Sounds great, right? However, there is an exception here—financial companies are excluded from this new policy.

This initiative is part of South Korea's efforts to align with global cryptocurrency market standards and represents a significant shift in the country's approach to cryptocurrency regulation. In the future, not only businesses but also law enforcement agencies, universities, and publicly listed companies will be able to trade digital assets legally.

In fact, this decision comes as a further action after the South Korean government begins to sell confiscated digital currency assets by the end of 2024. FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young mentioned that they observed that the virtual asset ecosystems of many countries around the world are developed around businesses, hence the decision to allow businesses to participate in the cryptocurrency market.

Starting from the second quarter of this year, non-profit organizations such as charities and universities will also be able to open bank accounts to conduct cryptocurrency trading. Moreover, it is expected that around 2,500 publicly listed companies and professional investors will join the market before the middle of the year, as long as they comply with new anti-money laundering and transaction transparency regulations.

However, it is worth noting that the FSC's stance on traditional financial institutions remains strict. Banks, brokerage firms, and other financial companies are currently still prohibited from buying or selling cryptocurrencies, including those offering cryptocurrency-backed ETFs. Regulators stated that this is due to concerns about market risks and speculative trading.

Additionally, any trading approvals for corporate accounts will undergo a strict review process to ensure that only transactions with verified sources of funds and clear trading purposes are approved.

There is also good news; the South Korean Financial Services Commission plans to allow institutions to sell their digital asset donations in the second half of 2025, meaning charities and universities will be able to sell previously restricted cryptocurrency donations.

Overall, South Korea is gradually opening its digital asset ecosystem, and although financial companies are still excluded, this policy shift has paved the way for other businesses and organizations to enter the cryptocurrency market, which is expected to bring new development opportunities for the domestic cryptocurrency market.