South Korea Opens Corporate Crypto Investing While Keeping Dollar-Backed Stablecoins on the Sidelines

South Korea is preparing to reopen the door to institutional cryptocurrency investment after nearly a decade of restrictions, but regulators are drawing a clear boundary around one of the industry’s most widely used financial tools. While thousands of listed companies may soon be permitted to buy digital assets, stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar are expected to remain off the table.

Government officials are finalizing new guidelines that will allow publicly traded firms to participate in cryptocurrency markets for the first time since 2017, when authorities imposed a quiet but sweeping restriction that effectively barred corporate trading. The policy change could affect roughly 3,500 listed companies, marking one of the most significant shifts in South Korea’s digital asset framework in years.

Yet despite growing demand from businesses for stable digital currencies, regulators appear determined to exclude assets such as USDT and USDC from the initial list of permitted investments. The decision highlights the government’s cautious approach as it attempts to expand the market while maintaining tight financial oversight.

The Financial Services Commission is expected to publish detailed rules governing corporate participation in crypto trading. Discussions during a government meeting held in early March suggested that stablecoins will not be included under the first phase of the policy rollout. Instead, companies will be allowed to invest only in a limited group of large-cap cryptocurrencies.

Officials are reportedly considering restrictions that would confine corporate purchases to the twenty largest digital assets by market capitalization. Additional safeguards would cap investments at around five percent of a company’s equity capital, a measure designed to ensure that losses in volatile crypto markets cannot destabilize entire firms.

The hesitation around stablecoins is largely tied to existing financial laws. Under South Korea’s Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, cross-border payments must pass through authorized foreign exchange banks. Since fiat-pegged stablecoins are not formally recognized as a legal payment instrument, allowing companies to hold them could create a contradiction in which firms possess assets they are prohibited from using for international trade.

Regulators are also concerned about the potential misuse of stablecoins as a vehicle for rapid capital transfers. Because these tokens are typically designed to function like digital dollars and can move across borders almost instantly, policymakers worry that their widespread adoption could facilitate money laundering or large-scale capital flight before proper monitoring systems are in place.

Businesses, however, see stablecoins very differently. Corporations involved in global trade have argued that digital dollar tokens could reduce settlement times, lower transaction fees and help manage currency risk. Instead of relying on traditional bank wires that may take days to process, stablecoin transactions can be completed within minutes and reflect real-time exchange rates.

For now, companies seeking exposure to these instruments often rely on personal wallets or overseas over-the-counter platforms rather than official corporate accounts. That workaround underscores the growing pressure on regulators to eventually address stablecoin usage within a formal legal framework.

South Korea’s broader digital asset strategy is being developed in stages. The first phase of the Digital Asset Framework Act focused primarily on protecting retail users and strengthening oversight of exchanges. The next phase aims to build a more structured institutional market, including potential rules for issuing stablecoins tied to the Korean won.

Early policy discussions indicate that authorities may require future stablecoin issuers to hold significant capital reserves and involve domestic banks as major stakeholders. If implemented, such requirements could lay the foundation for a tightly regulated domestic stablecoin ecosystem rather than reliance on dollar-backed tokens issued abroad.

The new corporate trading rules therefore represent a cautious compromise. South Korea is signaling that institutional participation in crypto markets is no longer taboo, yet policymakers remain determined to introduce the change gradually. For now, companies may soon gain access to major digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but the digital dollars many firms hoped to use will have to wait.