South Korean Financial Authorities Plan to Ban Corporate Investment in Stablecoins

According to reports, the South Korean Financial Services Commission is drafting guidelines for corporate virtual currency trading, which will exclude stablecoins from the investment permission scope. The guidelines aim to allow listed companies and professional investment registered companies to engage in digital asset trading for investment or financial purposes. In order to prevent disorderly investments in the market's early stages, authorities have decided to exclude USD stablecoins such as USDT and USDC from the permission scope. One of the reasons for excluding stablecoins is that the current South Korean Foreign Exchange Transaction Act does not recognize stablecoins as a means of foreign payment. If stablecoins were included in the investment permission scope, it would contradict the existing legal system, effectively allowing companies to use stablecoins for trade and other commercial purposes. The South Korean National Assembly is currently reviewing an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act to recognize stablecoins as a means of payment, which was proposed in October last year. It is reported that some listed companies with a high proportion of trade have requested the inclusion of stablecoins in the permission scope to use them for forex hedging. Even though they are excluded from the guidelines, companies can still engage in stablecoin trading through personal wallets or overseas exchanges. Industry insiders revealed that the relevant working group has completed its work, but the timing of the guidelines' release is tied to the legislative process of the Digital Assets Basic Law.

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