South Korean Lawmakers Across Parties Urge Digital Asset Framework Law Beyond Tax Delay

Both parties voice concern over delays in digital-asset legislation

PPP says government bill should be revised to reflect market realities

Democratic Party says regulation and innovation must be balanced on trust

Lawmakers from both parties called for a faster regulatory overhaul to support growth in the virtual-asset, or cryptocurrency, industry. They said South Korea must move beyond delaying taxation and establish a basic law while supporting both user protection and corporate innovation.

People Power Party floor leader Chung Jeom-sik, Democratic Party lawmakers Back Hye-ryun and Park Sung-joon, and Kim Sung-won, chair of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee, made the remarks at D-CON 2026 held on Nov. 10 at Fairmont Ambassador Seoul in Yeouido.

As digital assets become mainstream, a range of financial services and business models is expanding, Chung said. Countries around the world are already speeding up regulatory efforts to secure the upper hand, he added.

He also said the government is set to unveil its draft Digital Asset Framework Act later this month.

Chung stressed that tax rules should reflect the characteristics of the market. Taxation that fails to account for the volatility of virtual-asset prices could burden investors and companies, he said.

He added that he met with exchange executives in September and urged the creation of realistic and reasonable tax standards.

Investors should be able to trade with confidence, while companies should be free to make bold moves into new services, Chung said. Once the government bill is released, he added, he would first seek to revise provisions that do not match market conditions.

Kim turned to the legislative agenda beyond the tax delay. He said one of the things both parties had done well was postponing virtual-asset taxation.

South Korea now needs to go further and enact a framework law, he said.

The country has technological capabilities and innovative companies, but lacks an institutional foundation, Kim said. Political leaders and the government need to move with speed, he added, saying he has made the same point every year.

He said he has already proposed bills on a framework law, allowing multiple real-name accounts and creating a regulatory sandbox. Both parties need to actively discuss those measures, he added.

Kim said politics should not stop at staging an event, but should turn the ideas raised there into policy and legislation. He added that lawmakers would organize the comments made at the forum, relay them to the government and continue support in the National Assembly.

Back said user protection and market trust should serve as the foundation for industry growth. Virtual assets have become part of everyday life, and as the market has expanded, trust must underpin it, he said.

Back said the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, passed while he chaired the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, still has shortcomings. Even so, he added, it has provided a foundation for user protection and trust.

He also acknowledged that legislation has lagged behind changes in finance, including tokenization of real-world assets and stablecoins. Blockchain is rapidly connecting with real-world finance, and the boundary between traditional and digital finance is fading, he said.

Even so, laws and institutions remain slow, Back said, apologizing for the delay.

For innovation to flourish, the ground beneath it must be firm, and that ground is trust, Back said. South Korea's digital-asset industry will gain global competitiveness only if safe regulation and dynamic innovation are balanced on that foundation, he added.

He said the National Assembly would support the technology and entrepreneurial drive built up across the industry so they can fully flourish.

Park, the final speaker to take the stage, said South Korea should lead the global digital-asset market on the strength of its technology and talent. The country became an export powerhouse through a shift in thinking, the creation of new markets and technological advances, he said.

In digital assets, South Korea should now aim not to follow, but to lead, Park said.

Technology is the foundation, he said, and it must be matched by imagination and talent. South Korea already has that base and should lead global competition and the international market in digital assets, he added.