South Korea plans to introduce new crypto law in second half of 2025: report

South Korea has officially begun discussions to develop the second part of its crypto regulatory framework and aims to draft the legislation within the second half of this year, local news outlets reported.

The country’s Financial Services Commission held a meeting on Wednesday to outline the key tasks that the upcoming bill would address, South Korean news outlet Edaily reported . 

Kim So-young, Vice Chairman of the FSC, mentioned at the meeting that major economies in the world are accelerating the development of crypto regulations to achieve investor protection and eliminate regulatory uncertainty.

South Korea’s first crypto regulatory framework went into effect in July last year after passing legislation a year prior. The framework focused on protecting crypto investors by setting stricter requirements for exchanges, such as a mandate for service providers to safekeep at least 80% of user crypto deposits in cold storage separate from their own funds.

The FSC Vice Chair reportedly said that the follow-up regulatory framework should take a comprehensive and systematic approach that encompasses service providers, crypto users and the crypto market.

Some topics discussed at Wednesday’s meeting included increasing transparency in new listings of cryptocurrencies on exchanges and enforcing the same disclosure requirements for crypto entities as those applied to companies in traditional finance. 

According to Edaily, the meeting also addressed stablecoin regulation, with authorities reviewing global practices regarding reserve asset management for issuers and user redemption rights.

South Korea has one of the world’s largest and most active cryptocurrency markets, with its local-only crypto exchange Upbit being the world’s third-largest centralized exchange last month in terms of volume.