South Korea’s FSC to Draft Digital Asset Framework Act This Year, Including Stablecoin Rules

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission said it plans to draw up a Digital Asset Framework Act by the end of this year to foster the digital-asset industry.

In its second policy briefing to the president on July 15, the FSC said it would prepare the legislation within the year to help build an innovative digital-asset ecosystem.

The bill will define the digital-asset industry and set out a regulatory framework aimed at establishing a fair and efficient market order while strengthening user protection.

The FSC also plans to bring the issuance and distribution of stablecoins into the regulatory system as their use as a new payment method expands in major economies. It will also strengthen anti-money laundering, or AML, rules to combat crimes involving the misuse of digital assets.

The government and the ruling party had originally sought to propose the Digital Asset Framework Act in March. Discussion of the bill was later delayed as other issues, including worsening tensions in the Middle East and local elections, took priority.

Separately, the FSC said it will also push to institutionalize security token offerings, or STOs, to bolster the competitiveness of South Korea’s capital markets. It is preparing revisions to enforcement decrees needed to operate the tokenized securities market.