[Exclusive] Democratic Party moves to draft its own digital-asset bill, setting up potential clash with government proposal

Party to craft a consolidated digital-asset bill

With government proposal delayed, the Democratic Party activates its own plan

Will rules on stablecoins and major shareholders be revised

The Democratic Party of Korea’s Digital Asset Task Force (TF) has begun full-scale work to draw up a “party-led proposal” that consolidates digital-asset bills introduced by its lawmakers into a single package. With the government’s Digital Asset Basic Act proposal delayed due to differences between financial authorities and the National Assembly, the move appears to be a pre-emptive response aimed at minimizing a legislative vacuum.

On the 13th, the office of Rep. Lee Jung-moon, who chairs the Digital Asset TF, told Bloomingbit, “We plan to release the Democratic Party’s own proposal that integrates the digital-asset bills introduced by TF members,” adding that it “has entered the drafting stage.” The office noted, “As this is still the initial stage, the timing of the announcement has not yet been decided.”

The TF’s plan is to organize the key issues in the bills introduced by its members, bundle them into a single consolidated bill, and submit it to the National Assembly. Previously, TF members including Min Byung-deok, Ahn Do-geol, Lee Kang-il and Kim Hyun-jung have introduced digital-asset-related bills.

The government proposal currently being prepared under the leadership of financial authorities initially targeted submission to the National Assembly in December last year, but the schedule has continued to slip due to differences between the Financial Services Commission and the National Assembly. In particular, it is said that the gap has not narrowed over whether to allow stablecoin issuance by a consortium in which banks hold a majority stake (50%+1) or more.

Against this backdrop, the Democratic Party’s Digital Asset TF moving to prepare a consolidated bill follows its existing stance that it would pursue separate party-level legislation if delays to the government proposal become protracted. The TF has previously said it would review its own alternatives if submission of the government proposal keeps being postponed.

Given the Democratic Party’s posture of actively reflecting the industry’s views, the consolidated proposal is expected to include a substantial amount of content that conflicts with the government proposal. With industry pushback strong against limiting stablecoin issuers to bank-majority consortia, whether that provision will be adjusted is seen as a key issue.

Another point of interest is whether the consolidated proposal will include provisions opposing limits on the ownership stake of major shareholders in crypto exchanges. The Financial Services Commission is reviewing a plan to cap major shareholders’ stakes in crypto exchanges at 15~20%, in line with the level applied to alternative trading systems (ATS) under the Capital Markets Act. The industry has criticized this as a regulation that cannot be found anywhere.

A TF official said, “We understand that industry opposition to the government proposal is significant,” adding, “Our goal is to draft a first version this week and move quickly into fleshing it out.”

Hwang Do-hyun, Bloomingbit reporter cow5361@bloomingbit.io