Domestic companies likely to be allowed to invest up to 5% of equity capital in cryptoassets

Listed companies and corporations registered as professional investors are expected to be allowed to invest up to 5% of their equity capital in cryptoassets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

According to the financial sector on the 11th, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) drew up “Guidelines for Cryptoasset Trading by Listed Companies” and shared them with a public-private task force (TF) on the 6th. A source familiar with financial regulators said, “We plan to disclose the final guidelines in January–February and allow corporate cryptoasset transactions for investment and treasury purposes.” Given that the introduction of the Digital Assets Basic Act is slated for the first quarter of this year, permission for trading by listed companies and professional-investor corporations is highly likely to materialize by year-end at the latest.

To prevent excessive corporate risk exposure, authorities set an annual investment cap at 5% of equity capital. Eligible assets will be limited to the top 20 tokens by market capitalization on a semiannual basis, based on disclosures from South Korea’s five major crypto exchanges. Whether to include Tether (USDT), a dollar-pegged stablecoin, is still under discussion. Authorities also plan to establish trading standards—such as split orders and limits on orders exceeding a certain quote range—to help damp market volatility.

While the industry welcomes the move to allow corporate investment, it is voicing concerns over the cap. The United States and Japan impose no restrictions on corporate investment, and the European Union and Singapore also permit cryptoasset investment relatively broadly.