Seoul Seminar Sets Custody Standards for Corporate Crypto Entry

South Korean policymakers and fintech leaders at a National Assembly seminar on July 23 laid out a clear condition for corporate crypto participation: custody infrastructure that meets global standards, or no market access.

The event, co-hosted by Democratic Party lawmakers Hyun-jung Kim and Do-geol Ahn, brought together regulators from the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, along with exchange operators, custodians, and legal experts. The Korea Fintech Industry Association (KORFIN) organized the session under the theme "Opening the Corporate Market and Building a Safe Digital Asset Ecosystem."

Rep. Kim opened with a pointed warning. "Now that corporate participation is becoming a reality, the key is how to open the market safely," she said, citing hacks and weak internal controls as recurring risks. She called for custody systems that align with international norms and pledged support for the second phase of digital asset legislation, often discussed as a "Basic Digital Asset Act" roadmap.

BDACS CEO Hong-yeol Ryu made the most direct argument for structural separation. He pointed to the collapses of FTX and Mt. Gox as evidence of what happens when trading and asset safekeeping are not effectively separated. "For institutionally scaled capital to enter more reliably, the market needs trusted and independent custodians that can provide segregated storage, operational controls, and transparent risk management," Ryu said.

Kyobo Securities executive director Hee-jin Shin pushed for a phased approach to institutional readiness. The country is in a transition period toward an institutional-investor era, she said. Simply allowing market access does not establish trust. The framework must cover the full lifecycle of participation, from investment decision processes and custody standards to incident response and clearly defined liability in the event of losses.