Lee Jun-seok Says South Korea Must Make Blockchain a National Strategy to Lead Globally [EastPoint: Seoul 2026]

Interview with Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok

Separate exchanges and brokerage to open competition, Lee says

WonSCO should target cross-border payments first

Proposes blockchain finance tied to real estate and semiconductors

"Blockchain should not be seen simply as technology for trading virtual assets. South Korea needs to approach it as a national strategy — designing trading structures and payment standards first, then moving to capture new financial and industrial markets."

Lee Jun-seok, leader of South Korea's minor opposition Reform Party, said blockchain should be cultivated as a national strategic industry. He argued that South Korea should connect digital assets with finance, payments, real estate and semiconductors to seize emerging global markets.

In an interview with Bloomingbit on Aug. 6, Lee said South Korea first needs a national-level strategy defining what kind of market it wants to build and dominate through blockchain. If the country designs trading structures, payment methods and standards for financial products ahead of others, it can secure leadership in global markets, he added.

As concrete measures, Lee proposed a consolidated order book that separates exchange and brokerage functions, the use of a won-based stablecoin known as WonSCO for international payments, and blockchain-based financial products tied to real estate and semiconductors.

Separate exchanges and brokerage to open competition, Lee says

Lee called restructuring the trading system a prerequisite for building new digital-asset markets. Individual exchanges now control both order books and customer access, fragmenting prices and liquidity while making it harder for new players to enter, he said.

"In the stock market, the market operator and securities firms acting as brokers are separated, which gives retail investors a smoother and fairer trading environment," Lee said. "By contrast, in the virtual-asset market, exchanges run both the order book and brokerage, creating a structure that disadvantages ordinary investors."

He proposed a "consolidated order book" jointly operated by existing exchanges and financial investors. Under that model, domestic and overseas firms would connect to a unified market and compete on customer service, fees and financial products.

"Under the current structure, it is effectively impossible for a new entrant to build its own order book and compete," he said. "If a unified market is established, not only domestic companies but also overseas exchanges and financial firms could enter South Korea and compete."

Lee also said regulation must become more predictable. He proposed a benchmark-country system under which businesses allowed in digital-asset hubs such as Singapore would, in principle, also be allowed in South Korea, replacing the current approach in which authorities decide case by case whether to permit each project.

"You can't build an industry by turning the cold water on and the hot water back on depending on the political situation," Lee said. A benchmark-country system is needed to create a stable and predictable regulatory environment, he added.

He also stressed the need for a national strategy. The government, he said, has become complacent because of the semiconductor boom. While it remains focused on defensive policies aimed at preventing problems such as overheating in the property market, it has lost sight of a strategy to capture new digital-asset markets. Blockchain now needs to be elevated into a national strategy, he said.

WonSCO should target cross-border payments first

Lee said a won-based stablecoin, or WonSCO, should expand into international payments rather than remain limited to domestic transactions. He proposed securing real-world use cases first by linking overseas payments by South Korean users and domestic payments by foreign visitors through a single blockchain payment network.

Lee pointed to subscriptions for overseas artificial intelligence services as an early use case for WonSCO.

"The amount our people spend on AI subscriptions could eventually reach tens of trillions of won," he said. "A country with South Korea's purchasing power can ask overseas AI companies to accept subscription payments through a blockchain method we designate."

He said a system in which domestic users' payment funds pass through WonSCO before reaching overseas merchants could cut fees charged by existing card and remittance networks, while also helping establish an international user base for the stablecoin.

Lee also said South Korea should gradually allow domestic payments using dollar stablecoins held by foreigners. He proposed introducing them first as debit-style payments subject to limits, allowing use at restaurants, shops and on transit cards in South Korea.

"If you start with areas where demand is clear, such as overseas service subscriptions and payments by foreign tourists, you can create real use cases for stablecoins," Lee said. "You can begin with capped payments and gradually widen their circulation in South Korea."

Real estate and semiconductors can also become blockchain financial products

In real estate, Lee proposed gradually allowing tokenized securities offerings, or STOs, beginning with commercial property. Commercial real estate is better suited to fractional investment and securitized products because rental income and asset values can be estimated relatively clearly, he said.

He also proposed a blockchain-based futures market for memory semiconductors. The idea is to standardize memory chips by performance and generation, turn them into futures products like crude oil or grain, use blockchain as the trading infrastructure and WonSCO as the settlement method.

"Memory semiconductors are standardized under international standards, and their product life cycles are long," Lee said. "They can be turned into futures products, like Dubai crude or Chicago grain."

A futures market would allow semiconductor companies to hedge against falling prices and reduce uncertainty in medium- to long-term production and investment plans, he said.

"If South Korea builds a semiconductor futures market on blockchain, it could create a market more advanced than existing commodity exchanges," he said. "If South Korea sets the trading model for memory semiconductors and the settlement standard for stablecoins first, it can draw other countries and companies into that market."

The industry needs to show business models that make money

Lee also said the digital-asset industry needs to present business models capable of generating real profit. It first needs to show which regulations are blocking which businesses, and what products and markets could be created if those rules were eased. That, he said, would give the government momentum to move policy.

"Right now, the industry seems focused only on breaking through regulation, and I don't hear much about what kind of market it would build and how it would make money once the system is in place," Lee said. "There needs to be a specific discussion of what business someone wants to pursue and which regulation is preventing it."

He also cited STOs backed by music copyrights and intellectual property, as well as fractional investment in aircraft engines, as viable business models.

"People participating in the blockchain market need a goal beyond getting rich overnight, one tied to developing the industry," Lee said. "If South Korea shows it intends to develop digital assets not as speculation but as an industry, overseas markets will also gain trust in it."

Lee also said the global Web3 private conference EastPoint: Seoul 2026, scheduled for Sept. 28, should move beyond regulatory debate and present business models that can actually work.

"I hope companies attending EastPoint discuss not only what kind of market they will build once the rules are in place, but also how they will generate real profits," he said. "South Korea can avoid missing the industry's golden window only if concrete ideas accumulate, such as tourist payments or a semiconductor futures market."