The Bank of Korea is not backing down. In materials submitted to the National Assembly’s finance committee on Thursday, the central bank doubled down on its position that won-denominated stablecoins should be issued through bank-led consortiums. Nothing else will do.
It’s a stance that has divided South Korean policymakers and delayed the country’s digital asset bill for months. The BOK wants banks to retain majority ownership of stablecoin issuers. Industry groups want more flexibility. Neither side is budging.
The central bank also wants a statutory policy body involving multiple agencies to oversee stablecoin issuance. In other words, don’t expect a fast resolution.
Here’s what is moving forward: deposit token pilots. The BOK says it will keep developing use cases through the second half of the year, including government subsidy payments, vouchers, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Deposit tokens represent commercial bank deposits on a blockchain — think of them as a middle ground between a CBDC and a private stablecoin.
In April, BOK Governor Hyun-Song Shin backed both CBDCs and deposit tokens in his first public address. South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance launched a pilot using tokenized deposits for government operational spending around the same time.
The digital asset bill’s timeline has slipped badly. The government initially aimed for a Q1 2026 target. Then the US-Israeli conflict with Iran kicked off in late February, local elections came, and committee restructuring in the Assembly caused more delays.
The core question is still open: who gets to issue stablecoins in South Korea? The BOK says banks. Lawmakers are still arguing about it. And until that’s settled, the entire regulatory framework stays in limbo.
