South Korea has officially elevated the development of a digital asset ecosystem to a national priority, the government announced on May 26, 2026, as part of a report on the performance of 123 national tasks. The move designates the sector as the country’s 48th national objective, placing it at a strategic level akin to major industrial policies.
The report highlighted several milestones, including the permission granted for non-profit corporations and virtual asset exchanges to sell virtual assets from June 2025, the commencement of full-scale discussions on a digital asset basic act in the second half of 2025, and the launch of a dedicated Security Token Council in March 2026. Most notably, it sets a concrete timeline for the Security Token Act to take effect in February 2027, providing a formal legal framework for tokenized securities that have long operated in a gray area. The government also confirmed it will pursue a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the near future.
The announcement comes amid parallel momentum from the ruling Democratic Party, which is pushing to fast-track the second-phase basic act on digital assets in the second half of 2025. At a policy debate on stablecoins, lawmaker Ahn Do-geol, secretary of the party’s Digital Asset Task Force, stated that the task force is finalizing coordination on contentious issues and expects rapid legislative progress. The debate underscored that stablecoins are now viewed as critical payment infrastructure, and South Korea plans to establish a regulatory testbed to experiment with rules before formal introduction.
This legislative push is seen as an effort to keep pace with global counterparts—such as the EU’s MiCA framework and Japan’s stablecoin laws—while addressing vulnerabilities exposed by the 2022 Terra-LUNA collapse. For exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and investors, the anticipated laws promise clearer compliance obligations, redemption rights, and operational transparency, potentially solidifying South Korea’s role as a regulatory model in Asia.
