Government to draw up a ‘Public Virtual Asset Custody Manual’…distribution slated for 1H

The government has moved to prepare a custody manual to overhaul the management framework for virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) held by public institutions.

According to industry sources on the 23rd, the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission are producing a public-sector virtual asset custody and management manual. The manual is expected to set out basic guidelines to help government ministries and public institutions manage their virtual-asset holdings more safely.

The manual is said to include security measures such as storing virtual assets secured through seizure and similar actions in an environment isolated from the internet and restricting access permissions. Options for using private-sector custody services are also being reviewed.

However, given differences in each institution’s functions and holding methods, detailed operating standards will be left to individual ministries, with the manual centered on baseline guidelines that can be applied across agencies. Major institutions such as the Korean National Police Agency and the National Tax Service are known to be drawing up separate in-house management standards.

The FIU is handling the working-level tasks and consolidating feedback from relevant ministries, and a draft of the manual has already been prepared. The government plans to refine it and distribute it as early as the first half of this year.