South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (SFC) is set to allow institutions to begin selling their digital asset donations and instruct banks to offer more services to cryptocurrency firms.
South Korea’s main financial regulator will allow charities and universities to sell their crypto donations starting in the second half of 2025. The SFC had previously restricted institutions from opening accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges.
As part of a pilot program, new regulations will also allow 3,500 corporations and professional investors to open “real-name” accounts in the first half of the year before being allowed to sell their assets, according to a Feb. 13 announcement by the FSC, which stated:
“In the second half of the year, a pilot test will be conducted for accounts for investment and financial purposes for some institutional investors with risk-taking capabilities.”
The regulator’s decision is a positive sign for crypto adoption, considering corporate digital asset transactions have been restricted by the South Korean government since 2017 to “alleviate speculation” and money laundering-related concerns.
The FSC also plans to enable cryptocurrency exchanges to sell their crypto holdings, including user-generated fees.
South Korea has taken a cautious approach toward allowing corporate accounts for crypto trading. The FSC was expected to discuss the issue of these accounts on Jan. 15, but the decision was postponed during the second meeting of the Virtual Asset Committee, Cointelegraph reported.
While South Korea has not formally banned accounts for corporations and institutions, the regulators reportedly have de facto guided banks to not issue them.
Related: Corporate crypto investments in South Korea inch closer to approval
FSC releases “phased” crypto market roadmap for corporations
To avoid market manipulation concerns, the FSC released a roadmap that would permit corporations to gradually sell cryptocurrency assets.
FSC’s crypto roadmap for 2025. Source: FSC
The roadmap will allow corporations with at least 10 billion won ($6.8 million) in financial investment product holdings to participate in the digital asset market.
The FSC plans to “closely analyze” general corporations that are not professional investors and will complete a review after the second stage of the pilot program.
The regulator is also preparing a set of “trading guidelines” to verify the purpose of digital asset transactions and the source of the funds to avoid money laundering.
Related: South Korean elders need Bitcoin, Ether ETFs, finance industry chief says
SFC concerned about post-listing volatility, pump and dump schemes
While the FSC also plans to allow crypto exchanges to sell part of their holdings, the release noted “continuous concerns over the phenomenon of sudden price fluctuations” that occur immediately after an exchange lists a token.
The country’s first case of unfair crypto trading, or “pump and dump,” was reported by the FSC on Jan. 16 under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which took effect in July 2024.
In that case, the authorities indicted suspects who allegedly manipulated prices in brief intervals of about 10 minutes, enabling them to earn hundreds of millions of Korean won over one month.
The final part of the FSC’s bill also called for “self-regulatory efforts” by the crypto industry to avoid these sudden post-listing fluctuations or “listing beams.” The new measures include thoroughly reviewing the token listing standards and more transparency in the process.
The regulator also proposed imposing a potential minimum circulating supply of cryptocurrency to avoid price volatility after an exchange listing.
The FSC said it will form a task force with the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Federation of Banks and Digital Asset eXchange Alliance to prepare trading guidelines and implement the corporate roadmap for crypto market transactions.
Magazine: Help! My parents are addicted to Pi Network crypto tapper