South Korea May Ban Corporate Investment in Stablecoins

According to Korean media reports, the Korea Financial Services Commission is drafting the "Corporate Virtual Currency Trading Guidelines," which may exclude stablecoins from the permitted investment scope. The guidelines will outline standards for publicly listed companies and registered professional investment firms when trading digital assets for investment or financial purposes. To prevent reckless investments in the early market stages, regulators have decided to exclude dollar-pegged stablecoins (such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC)) from the allowable investment range.
One of the reasons for excluding stablecoins is that the current Korea Foreign Exchange Transactions Act does not recognize stablecoins as a means of external payment. Including stablecoins within the investment permission scope would conflict with the existing legal framework, effectively allowing companies to use stablecoins for trade and other commercial purposes in a disguised manner. Currently, the Korean National Assembly is reviewing an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, which proposes to recognize stablecoins as a payment method. This bill was introduced in October last year.