Stablecoins, RWA Need Usable Market Structure, Not Just Issuance Rules, as South Korea Speeds Digital-Asset Framework
Summary
- Participants said reforms covering the Digital Asset Basic Act, stablecoins, RWA and STO are directly tied to the long-term competitiveness of South Korea’s capital markets.
- Lawmakers said discussions led by the Democratic Party task force are focused on a won-backed stablecoin with a one-to-one peg and highly liquid reserve assets, and that it should be viewed as core financial infrastructure for the future.
- Experts said it is urgent to design real market use structures for won-backed stablecoins, RWA and STO using public blockchains, and stressed that policymakers should open feasible areas first rather than wait for a perfect framework.
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Policy symposium at Hashed Lounge examines South Korea’s push to become a digital G2
Lawmakers call for faster debate on a Digital Asset Basic Act, frame stablecoins as financial infrastructure
Experts say the age of AI agents and RWA requires market design built for real-world use
South Korea’s effort to formalize won-backed stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, or RWA, and security token offerings, or STOs, should shift from debates over issuers and legal form to the structure needed for real-world use, speakers at a policy symposium said. Global blockchain experts said policymakers should build payment and distribution systems, 24-hour capital markets and public blockchain adoption in tandem.
A policy symposium titled “Toward a Digital G2 for South Korea: The Future of Digital Assets and Capital Markets — Choices for the U.S. and South Korea” was held on June 23 at Hashed Lounge in Seoul’s Gangnam district. Lawmakers, policy and legal experts, and digital-asset industry officials from South Korea and abroad attended to discuss the Digital Asset Basic Act, stablecoins, RWA and the framework for STOs.
“Digital assets should be viewed through the lens of national competitiveness”
Participants said updating digital-asset rules is tied to the long-term competitiveness of South Korea’s capital markets.
Rep. Min Byoung-dug of the Democratic Party said in opening remarks that the world is building a new financial and capital-market order around digital assets and blockchain technology while South Korea’s regulatory system has not kept pace with the market’s rapid changes. He added that debate on the Digital Asset Basic Act would accelerate in the National Assembly in the second half of the year.
Rep. Ahn Do-geol of the Democratic Party, delivering a keynote speech, described stablecoins as a core part of future financial infrastructure. Stablecoins are moving beyond simple investment products and reshaping financial plumbing. Because money is the foundation and engine of all financial and real-world transactions, he said, stablecoins deserve close attention.
Ahn said efforts to consolidate related bills are in their final stage under the Democratic Party’s digital-asset task force. Talks on stablecoins are centered on a structure in which they are pegged one-to-one to the won and backed by highly liquid reserve assets equal to the amount issued.
Esther Kim, a researcher at Hashed Open Research, or HOR, said digital assets should be linked to industrial strategy in the age of artificial intelligence. On-chain digital assets can keep AI, content and consumer markets moving across borders around the clock, she said. Stablecoins, RWA and STOs could help South Korea attract talent and capital in the AI era.
In South Korea, market use matters more than issuance alone
Panelists said South Korea’s institutional debate cannot remain focused only on issuers and legal form.
Lee Yeo-jin, a senior secretary at the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, said the next three years will be a critical window for South Korea’s financial industry to make the digital transition. If a won-backed stablecoin does not emerge until 2029, the country could miss an important opportunity. On RWA and STOs, Lee said South Korea cannot keep delaying discussions while waiting for a perfect system. Instead, it should open areas that are already feasible and use a regulatory sandbox or follow-up legislation to address the rest.
Overseas experts also said policymakers should consider institutional models built on public blockchains. Miller Whitehouse-Levine, chief executive officer of the Solana Policy Institute, said a private blockchain would make the system fundamentally little different from an existing exchange platform. Transaction privacy concerns, he said, can be addressed with technical tools such as confidential token extensions.
Chris Montagnano, chief legal officer at Orca, said tokenized securities can trade on permissionless blockchain infrastructure if issuers manage investor qualification checks and disclosure obligations. Protocols such as Orca would not make regulatory judgments themselves. Their role would be to provide infrastructure that supports trading between verified wallets.
The event also touched on legislative momentum behind US crypto market-structure bills. Whitehouse-Levine said the CLARITY Act could reach a turning point on Aug. 7. Even if the bill passes, details on disclosure, secondary trading and spot-market regulation would still need to go through about 40 rule-making processes, and completing the full framework could take about a decade, he said.
Minseung Kang
minriver@bloomingbit.ioBlockchain journalist | Writer of Trade Now & Altcoin Now, must-read content for investors.
