Give firms a clear licence map, and give industry a formal seat in rule-making
Korea's biggest problem is regulatory uncertainty: nobody knows which licence a bank or asset manager needs to offer digital asset products.
- To
- National Assembly Political Affairs Committee; Financial Services Commission
- From
- Kim Hyo-bong, Lawyer, Bae, Kim & Lee (keynote)
- Date
- 2026.09.10
- Occasion
- Digital Asset Finance Innovation seminar, Post Tower, Seoul, 10 Sep 2026 (hosted by Reps. Min Byung-deok and Ahn Do-geol, organised by KORFIN)
2026.09.10
What we ask
- Publish which licence a securities firm or asset manager needs to combine digital assets with existing financial services.
- Follow the US approach of giving clarity within existing law through guidance and no-action letters, rather than waiting for a full statute.
- Create a legal basis for drawing on industry expertise during the legislative process.
Digital assets and traditional finance are converging. Incumbent institutions are moving on-chain, into DeFi and real-world assets, and regulation needs to catch up with the services that already exist.
The United States shows one way to move quickly. Since approving spot digital asset ETFs in 2024, regulators have added clarity inside existing law: qualifying state-chartered trust companies can act as crypto custodians under the Investment Advisers Act, so eligible ETFs can list without a separate approval each time. On-chain finance has been handled through no-action letters and guidance that let market experiments run.
The problem in Korea
The largest obstacle at home is uncertainty. A securities firm or asset manager that wants to combine digital assets with its existing business cannot tell whether its current licence is enough or whether it also needs to register as a virtual asset service provider.
Markets change faster than statutes. The people closest to that change are in industry, and the law should give lawmakers a formal way to use that expertise.
Adapted from eToday: 김효봉 변호사 “규제 명확성 위해 업계 전문성 활용한 법적 근거 마련 필요” (Korean).