South Korea's Corporate Crypto Accounts: 3,500 Firms, Tokenized Securities

South Korea's Financial Services Commission published a digital finance blueprint that opens corporate crypto accounts for 3,500 companies and gives tokenized securities legal recognition under securities law. The plan also launches a deposit token trial involving nine major banks. The FSC said its goal is to move the country's crypto market away from a heavy retail-trading base and toward institutional money. South Korea is the fourth-largest crypto market by trading volume, and the FSC sees corporate participation as a way to bring more stable, long-term capital.

The legal changes come through amendments to the Electronic Securities Act and the Capital Markets Act. Those amendments make distributed ledgers official records under Korean law. The FSC said that means companies can issue and trade tokenized securities without relying on Korea Securities Depository for central record-keeping, reducing costs and settlement times. The same laws bring these tokens under existing investor protection rules. By giving tokenized securities the same legal status as conventional equities and bonds, the FSC removes a key uncertainty that has kept Korean institutional investors on the sidelines. Under the previous rules, any token representing a security fell into a regulatory gray area, making fund managers reluctant to participate.

Samsung SDS is building the tokenized securities platform under the FSC's oversight. The company is using its Nexledger blockchain technology, and the FSC expects the platform to be operational in the first half of next year. BitGo Korea, which recently secured its VASP registration from the Financial Intelligence Unit, is the custody provider. Hana Financial and SK Telecom are also involved in the infrastructure build-out.

LG CNS is running what the FSC calls an agentic payment service. The system uses deposit tokens on the Bank of Korea's infrastructure to execute payments automatically when predefined conditions are met. The pilot includes electric-vehicle charging infrastructure grants, a public-sector use case where failure is politically costly. The idea is to test whether AI-driven autonomous payments can improve efficiency in government disbursements.

The deposit token pilot is larger than many recognize. The Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT are running a 9.6 billion won initiative to connect deposit tokens with existing payment networks. Nine banks and eight payment companies are involved. The specific test is whether these tokens can cut transaction costs for small businesses without requiring a complete overhaul of payment terminals. The first phase results are due by year-end. Phase II targets 1 billion won in transaction volumes. The Bank of Korea will oversee the deposit token infrastructure to ensure stability and compatibility with the existing payment system. The central bank has been testing a digital won prototype since 2021.

South Korea's blueprint follows years of watching other jurisdictions. The U.S. saw protracted legal battles over crypto asset classification, with the SEC's posture shifting between administrations. Switzerland moved earlier and cleaner. FINMA was issuing tokenized-asset guidelines in 2018, and the Swiss framework became a reference for regulators elsewhere. The FSC blueprint reads less like a first draft and more like a document written by people who studied what broke elsewhere, the FSC said in its release.

The blueprint also outlines plans for stablecoin oversight, with detailed rules expected later. The FSC said it is working with the Bank of Korea to ensure deposit token standards align with monetary policy goals. Only exchanges registered with the FSC and compliant with the Virtual Asset User Protection Act will be allowed to offer corporate accounts. The FSC will publish a list of approved exchanges later this year.

How quickly those 3,500 corporate accounts get claimed will be a central metric. Eligible companies include securities firms and banks that meet capital and compliance thresholds. Fintech companies can also apply. The FSC expects the first corporate accounts to open by the end of the third quarter. If uptake fills fast, institutional demand is real. If slow, the retail dependency the FSC is trying to fix will be harder to break. The Samsung SDS platform has a target date of early next year; delays there would signal an infrastructure gap. Deposit token transaction volumes from the 9.6 billion won pilot will show whether banks and customers are actually using the instruments. BitGo Korea's custody business is another quiet indicator. If it lands major corporate clients quickly after its VASP registration, the infrastructure is credible. If slow, custody remains a limiting factor.

Tokenized equities have already hit $1.48 billion on some platforms, as seen with Bybit's recent addition of Meta and Tesla xStocks. The FSC's push positions South Korea to capture a portion of that market if the infrastructure delivers.

The 9.6 billion won deposit token initiative involves nine banks and eight payment companies testing real transactions against real infrastructure. The first phase of the deposit token pilot ends in December. The results will inform the FSC's next steps on broader tokenization policy.