South Korea may ban companies from investing in stablecoins

According to South Korean media reports, the "Guidelines for Corporate Virtual Currency Trading" being developed by the Financial Services Commission of South Korea may exclude stablecoins from the permitted investment scope. The guidelines will outline the standards for listed companies and registered professional investment firms to trade digital assets for investment or financial purposes. To prevent blind investment in the early stages of the market, regulators have decided to exclude dollar-pegged stablecoins (such as Tether (USDT) and usdc-269">USD Coin (USDC)) when defining the scope of permitted investments.

One reason for the exclusion of stablecoins is that the current South Korean Foreign Exchange Transaction Act does not recognize stablecoins as a means of payment for foreign transactions. Including stablecoins in the investment permission scope would contradict the existing legal framework, effectively allowing companies to use stablecoins for trade and other commercial purposes. Currently, the South Korean National Assembly is reviewing an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act that aims to recognize stablecoins as a means of payment; this bill was proposed last October.