South Korea is moving to bring cryptocurrencies and other digital assets into the heart of its public finance framework, proposing a major overhaul of rules that have been in place since 1950.
At a July 15 policy briefing at the President’s Blue House, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced plans for a new National Asset Basic Act to replace the decades-old State Property Act. The current law was written for an era when state assets were largely limited to land and buildings. The proposed act would widen the scope to include intellectual property and virtual assets, and create specialized management and development standards for different asset types.
Key shifts in the proposed framework
- Treat state assets as active sources of value, not just items to preserve, sell or develop.
- Introduce modern management practices tailored to new asset classes such as virtual assets and IP.
- Replace the State Property Act (enacted 1950) with the National Asset Basic Act to reflect a 21st-century asset landscape.
This move follows a broader digital policy push from the ministry earlier in the week. After a State Council meeting on Monday, authorities confirmed blockchain will remain part of South Korea’s economic growth strategy for the second half of 2026, even as artificial intelligence attracts a larger share of government funding.
Parallel digital asset initiatives to watch
- Digital Asset Basic Act: Continued work to set business conduct rules for the industry and to create a legal framework for Korean won–pegged stablecoins.
- Cross-border stablecoins: Plans to establish legal foundations for international stablecoin transactions.
- Spot crypto ETFs: Support for amendments that would permit spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds.
- Tokenized government bonds & CBDC pilot: A pilot linking tokenized government bonds to an institutional central bank digital currency (CBDC) project is slated to start in 2027, while the Bank of Korea will study CBDC interoperability with other blockchains.
Regional pilots are already underway: Gyeonggi Province plans an eight-month blockchain stablecoin trial beginning in August. According to blockchain outlet NexBlock, security firm ZKrypto will run the pilot (through February 2027) to test issuance, circulation, settlement, fraud prevention, privacy protections, and public-benefit payments. The trial will use zero-knowledge proofs to prevent double-spending and proof-of-reserves technology to verify backing assets.
Why it matters
If adopted, the National Asset Basic Act and related digital asset legislation would formalize cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets as part of Korea’s state asset toolkit, opening the door to new public finance strategies, tokenized fiscal instruments, and clearer rules for industry players. The combination of national lawmaking, CBDC experimentation, and regional pilots signals a coordinated push to integrate blockchain-era assets into Korea’s mainstream economic policy.
What to watch next
- Publication and legislative progress of the National Asset Basic Act and the Digital Asset Basic Act.
- Details of the 2027 tokenized bond–CBDC pilot and Bank of Korea findings on cross-chain interaction.
- Outcomes from the Gyeonggi stablecoin pilot and any regulatory changes enabling spot crypto ETFs or cross-border stablecoin use.
Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news
