South Korea is ending a nine-year "shadow ban" to allow 3,500 listed companies to invest in digital assets

Even though South Korea is ending a nine-year ban on its listed companies that prevented them from investing in digital assets, stablecoins like USDC and USDT are expected to be excluded under the new regulations. 

Corporations have made several arguments for why they should be allowed to trade stablecoins, including that it would help them settle payments faster and help them avoid volatility. 

However, the latest reports from local South Korean outlets claim that regulators plan to pass up on fiat-pegged cryptos in the new regime.

South Korea’s government allows institutional trading of digital assets 

In 2017, South Korean companies were barred from digital asset trading, and now, nearly a decade later, the government has made the decision to allow the institutional trading of digital assets. 

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is preparing to release the guidelines for Virtual Currency Trading by listed corporations. However, local reports and official discussions from a March 5, 2026, government meeting indicate that stablecoins, the very tools many companies want for international trade, are set to be excluded from the rule. 

Under the current Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, stablecoins are not recognized as a formal method for external payment. 

In South Korea, all foreign exchange payments must traditionally go through a foreign exchange bank. If the FSC were to allow companies to invest in stablecoins now, it would create a legal contradiction where firms hold investment assets that they are simultaneously forbidden from using for commercial payments like trade.

Furthermore, regulators are worried about the indiscriminate investments that could flood the market in the early days of legalization. 

By excluding assets like USDT (Tether) and USDC, the government hopes to prevent easy-to-use “digital dollars” from being used for illegal money laundering or unchecked capital flight

Why do corporations want to trade stablecoins? 

Many listed firms with high trade volumes have argued that using stablecoins would allow them to use real-time exchange rates to avoid currency volatility, settle overseas payments faster and cheaper than traditional bank wires, and manage digital-first balance sheets without constantly converting back to fiat.

Companies can currently still use personal wallets like MetaMask or overseas OTC (over-the-counter) platforms to handle stablecoins, but they have to do so without official corporate accounts. 

The Digital Asset Framework Act is split into Phase 1, which was focused on protecting individual users, and Phase 2, which is designed to build the actual infrastructure for a professional market.

Recent discussions from the March 2026 Virtual Asset Committee meeting suggest that the government plans to let the 3,500 listed firms and professional investors buy major coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum and then draft new rules for stablecoin issuance that might begin a won-based stablecoin ecosystem. 

There is already a growing push to require stablecoin issuers to have at least 5 billion KRW in capital and for banks to hold a majority stake (over 50%) in these ventures. 

The ruling party has settled on a plan to cap major shareholder stakes in crypto exchanges at 20% but there are exceptions that allow for up to 34%. This could force giants like Upbit and Bithumb to undergo massive corporate restructuring within a three-year grace period.

Cryptopolitan previously reported that Bithumb dealt with an accidental $43 billion transfer error; now the FSC has fresh ammo in its reasoning for pushing for a 5% equity capital limit on corporate crypto buys in order to ensure that if a company loses money on an accidental trade or market crash, it doesn’t sink the entire firm.

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