South Korea Restarts Digital Asset Framework Bill Talks After Four-Month Hiatus

South Korea is restarting legislative discussions on the Digital Asset Framework Act, the second phase of its virtual-asset legislation, about four months after talks were halted following the collapse of a party-government meeting in March.

Chosun Biz reported on July 20 that financial authorities and the Democratic Party will meet that morning at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, to discuss the government’s draft of the bill. Participants will include Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byoung-hwan and Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun, along with Democratic Party lawmakers on the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee.

It will be the first party-government consultation on the legislation in about four months. The two sides had originally planned to hold a meeting in March to finalize the government draft, but the schedule was postponed indefinitely because of the response to the war between the US and Iran. Discussions on the bill then effectively stopped. During that period, the Democratic Party’s digital asset task force, launched in September 2025 to advance the legislation, ended its work without notable results.

The bill’s main sticking points include whether to require a bank-led Korean won stablecoin consortium and whether to limit the stakes of major shareholders in digital asset exchanges.

The industry has pushed back particularly against a proposal to cap exchange major shareholders’ ownership at 10% to 15%. The National Assembly Research Service has twice said the measure could raise constitutional concerns, and differences have also emerged within the ruling camp.

Still, the ruling party and the government are working on a compromise over key issues, including the shareholder ownership cap.

Separately, financial authorities recently said in a policy briefing to the president that they plan to prepare the Digital Asset Framework Act within the year.