Discussions on the Digital Asset Framework Act have been pushed back once again. As it was excluded from the agenda of the 1st Bill Inspection Subcommittee of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee held on the 12th, discussions for the first half of the year have effectively fallen through. Within the industry, concerns are rising that the delay in institutionalization will slow down the promotion of new businesses by domestic companies and increase reliance on dollar stablecoins and overseas platforms.
On this day, government officials including Kwon Dae-young, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, attended the 1st subcommittee of the Political Affairs Committee to discuss 53 bills. Although it was the last meeting of the first half of the year held before the June 3 local elections, the Digital Asset Framework Act did not make it onto the agenda. Considering the reorganization of the Political Affairs Committee after the local elections and the schedule for the regular session of the National Assembly in the second half of the year, it is expected to be reviewed after September at the earliest.
The awareness of the problem regarding the legislative delay is growing among both ruling and opposition parties. Rep. Kim Sang-hoon of the People Power Party said at a seminar titled 'Global Stablecoin Trends and Opportunities for Korea's Digital Economy' held at the National Assembly Member's Hall on the same day, “Immediately after the local elections are over, the Digital Asset Framework Act must be put on the bill subcommittee for deliberation.”
Rep. Min Byeong-deok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea's Digital Asset Task Force (TF), also said, “Korea should no longer be a market that belatedly follows by translating rules made by others,” and added, “We must innovate our payment infrastructure through KRW-based stablecoins and prepare against dollar stablecoins.”
The Digital Asset Framework Act has not resolved differences in opinions on key issues. There are large differences in perspectives regarding the issuers of KRW-based stablecoins, reserve accumulation methods, redemption obligations, and restrictions on the shareholding of major shareholders of virtual asset exchanges. In particular, the restriction on major shareholders' stakes is an issue with strong industry backlash as it is linked to the governance structure of existing exchanges. In a situation where a government proposal has not been prepared, even the bills proposed by the National Assembly failed to reach the subcommittee table.
The industry views the legislative delay as a factor that slows down the promotion of new businesses. Stablecoins are connected to digital financial infrastructure such as payments, remittances, trade finance, real-world assets (RWA), and content settlement. The longer the state of having no legal standards persists, the more difficult it is for domestic companies to finalize their business models. Adjacent industries such as RWA, security tokens, and on-chain payments are also intertwined with the discussions on the Digital Asset Framework Act.
While the legislative clock in Korea has stopped, major overseas countries have already entered the competition for the detailed design of stablecoin systems. While Korea failed to even put the Digital Asset Framework Act on the subcommittee agenda, the United States is discussing the extent to which stablecoin reward structures should be permitted. As a compromise emerges--blocking interest-type returns from simple holding while allowing rewards based on activities such as payments and transactions--the struggle for leadership between the banking sector and the virtual asset industry is also intensifying.
The European Union (EU) is applying rules for issuance, disclosure, reserves, and redemption by dividing stablecoins into E-Money Tokens (EMT) and Asset-Referenced Tokens (ART) through MiCA, the EU's virtual asset market regulation. Hong Kong also implemented an issuer licensing system after passing a stablecoin bill, and entities such as Standard Chartered Hong Kong, Animoca Brands, and HKT are pushing for the issuance of stablecoins based on the Hong Kong Dollar.
An industry official said, “The Digital Asset Framework Act is a law that determines how to design KRW-based stablecoins and digital payment infrastructure, but it is held back by issues such as restrictions on major shareholders' stakes,” and added, “As legislation is delayed, domestic operators only run PoCs (Proof of Concept) due to regulatory risks and cannot fully promote new businesses.”
