South Korea Opens Corporate Crypto, Token Bond Paths; 9-Bank Trial Active

South Korea is moving on three fronts to bring digital assets into its regulated financial system. Around 3,500 companies will be allowed to open real-name crypto exchange accounts. The National Assembly has passed laws recognizing tokenized securities. The Bank of Korea is running deposit-token tests with nine commercial banks.

Andrew Park, CEO of FACTBLOCK and organizer of Korea Blockchain Week, said the country's crypto market is moving past its dependence on retail traders. Financial institutions are now focused on custody, tokenization, stablecoins, settlement systems and regulatory compliance, he said.

Corporate investors are preparing to enter the crypto market under Financial Services Commission rules. Securities firms are building systems for tokenized assets. The Bank of Korea is testing digital bank deposits that can carry programmable payment conditions.

The FSC's February 2025 roadmap targeted roughly 2,500 listed companies and about 1,000 corporations registered as professional investors. These firms can open real-name bank accounts linked to crypto exchanges. Financial companies were excluded from the group. The access was designed as a controlled pilot.

Since 2017, Korean companies have been unable to trade virtual assets through local exchanges because banks have not provided the required real-name accounts. The restriction was not written as a direct statutory ban. The account rules effectively kept corporate money out of the market.

The FSC first opened limited account access to nonprofit organizations, universities, law-enforcement agencies, and crypto exchanges. Eligible institutions could sell virtual assets received through donations, criminal seizures, or exchange fees. The first stage did not allow general investment.

Listed companies and registered professional investors formed the second group. The regulator considered them better equipped to assess investment risk. Officials also cited corporate demand for blockchain businesses and digital-asset investments.

Subsequent guidelines considered an annual investment ceiling equal to 5% of a company's equity capital, according to Korean media reports. Eligible purchases would be limited to the 20 largest cryptocurrencies by market value across South Korea's five major exchanges. Regulators were still considering whether dollar-backed stablecoins such as Tether's USDT should qualify.

Corporate access also generates demand for regulated custody. On Aug. 18, BitGo Korea secured VASP registration from the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit. The company can now develop crypto custody and transfer services for institutions and businesses. Hana Financial Group owns 25% of BitGo Korea. SK Telecom holds 10%. BitGo has not disclosed a service launch date, supported assets, custody fees, or named clients.

Beyond corporate accounts, South Korea has established a legal route for issuing and trading tokenized securities. The National Assembly passed amendments to the Electronic Securities Act and Capital Markets Act on Jan. 15, 2026. The measures were promulgated on Feb. 3 and are scheduled to take effect on Feb. 4, 2027, according to a legal summary from Kim & Chang.

Under the amended Electronic Securities Act, distributed ledgers can serve as legally recognized records for securities issuance. Issuers must follow registration procedures involving the Korea Securities Depository. Blockchain records are not treated as a separate ownership system.

Changes to the Capital Markets Act bring investment-contract securities and fractional investment products into the regulated market. Licensed intermediaries can handle distribution. Over-the-counter trading will operate under rules prepared by financial authorities.

Infrastructure work has proceeded before the law takes effect. In May, Samsung SDS won a contract to turn the Korea Securities Depository's test system into a production-ready token-securities platform. KSD expects the system to connect distributed-ledger data with its existing electronic securities accounts. Planned functions include issuance records, circulation checks, rights management and real-time monitoring of token volumes. Completion is expected by February 2027.

In August, Shinhan Bank and Plume began an offshore proof of concept involving a won-denominated tokenized fund backed by ultra-short-term bonds. The test excludes Korean residents and will not issue or distribute tokens. The companies are examining whitelist controls, know-your-customer checks, anti-money-laundering procedures, and onchain operations before the domestic law begins.

The framework follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's position that putting a financial instrument on a blockchain does not remove it from securities law. In a January 2026 staff statement, the SEC divided tokenized securities into issuer-backed and third-party models. The agency said market participants may still need registrations, proposals or regulatory relief.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said tokenized securities are still securities. Distributors, buyers and trading platforms must consider federal disclosure and market rules, she added. South Korea's framework places tokenized instruments inside its existing securities system, with KSD handling formal registration.

The Bank of Korea has developed a separate payment layer through Project Hangang. It combines wholesale central-bank money with deposit tokens issued by commercial banks. Deposit tokens are digital versions of bank deposits. Participating banks issue the tokens to customers. Tokenized central-bank money settles transfers between the banks.

Phase I began in April 2025. About 80,000 of the 100,000 invited users opened wallets. Participants completed approximately 118,000 payment transactions. The total value remained below 700 million won.

In March 2026, the Bank of Korea launched Phase II with nine banks. BNK Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank joined KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, NH Nonghyup, IBK Industrial Bank and BNK Busan Bank. Phase II includes person-to-person transfers, biometric payment approval, and automatic conversion between ordinary deposits and deposit tokens. The central bank is also extending digital vouchers and testing programmable controls on government spending.

Electric-vehicle charging infrastructure grants and public-sector operating expenses are among the first public-payment uses. Payment conditions can restrict which recipient spends the funds, where the money is accepted, and how long it remains available, according to the Bank of Korea.

A separate 9.6 billion won deposit-token payment program began in July under the Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT. Nine banks, eight payment companies, and two major merchants joined the consortium led by the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute. The program will connect deposit tokens with existing payment networks. Merchants can process transactions without replacing all their terminals. Participating agencies said the test would examine whether the system can lower processing fees for small businesses.

Project Hangang's technical work has covered payments initiated by AI agents. LG CNS demonstrated an agentic payment service in January 2026 using deposit tokens on the Bank of Korea's infrastructure. An AI agent can search for a product or service, check user-defined conditions, and complete a payment through a tokenized bank deposit. The Bank of Korea said it would continue studying deposit tokens as a payment method for AI-agent services and as settlement money for tokenized bonds and shares. Payment conditions can be written into the system. A transaction can execute only after a specified action or market condition occurs.

At the European Central Bank Forum in July, Bank of Korea Governor Hyun Song Shin said the big prize is tokenizing government bonds. He described a unified ledger where tokenized bonds, commercial-bank deposit tokens, and wholesale central-bank money could operate on the same platform.

The central bank has also connected Project Hangang with the Bank for International Settlements' Project Agorá. In 2026, South Korea completed tests linking its digital-currency system with the cross-border platform. The tests included real-value transactions using tokenized central-bank reserves across six currencies.