Nonetheless, lifting the ban on corporate crypto investments could unlock significant liquidity for the crypto market, one analyst said.
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is looking to set a 5% cap on corporate investments in cryptocurrencies, according to local media reports.
Seoul Economic Daily reported Sunday that the FSC has formulated a crypto trading guideline for listed corporations and professional investors, with a finalized version expected as early as January or February. Actual trading by corporations is anticipated to start within this year, the report said.
Under the proposal, corporations and professional investors would be permitted to allocate up to 5% of their equity capital annually to the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Whether U.S. dollar stablecoins such as USDT will be included in the eligible asset list remains under discussion, the report added.
“The immediate impact will be improved liquidity, but even with eligibility limited to the top 20 by market cap, we expect flows to remain concentrated in Bitcoin and potentially Ethereum, with limited spillover into altcoins,” Min Jung, associate researcher of Presto Research, told The Block.
The upcoming guidelines build on the FSC’s ongoing efforts to phase out the de facto ban on institutional crypto trading. In mid-2025, South Korea began allowing non-profit organizations and crypto exchanges to sell their crypto holdings. The FSC had previously announced that it would allow listed companies and professional investors to trade crypto in the second half of 2025.
According to the report, South Korean authorities proposed the 5% limit to address potential risks associated with large-scale corporate exposure to crypto assets. The upcoming guidelines will also include split trading rules and price limits on trade execution to mitigate market risks stemming from the expected expansion of liquidity.
“While the 5% allocation cap may seem conservative, given this is the first step, it’s unlikely many companies would want to exceed that level anyway, so it doesn’t appear to be a meaningful constraint,” Jung said.
Digital Asset Basic Act
Meanwhile, South Korean traders and industry participants are closely watching to see if major crypto-related policy shifts will actually materialize this year.
The upcoming Digital Asset Basic Act — the nation’s second comprehensive regulatory framework — is set to formalize rules for ongoing initiatives, including won-pegged stablecoins and the country’s first spot crypto ETFs. The final version of the legislation is anticipated in the first quarter of this year.
“The bigger issue to watch in Korea remains stablecoin regulation, particularly any framework around a won-denominated stablecoin, which could have far greater implications for the local crypto ecosystem,” Jung said.
