Yoo Young-jun, head of the FSC's digital finance policy bureau, made the remarks on Nov. 12 at the "Third Seoul Economic Daily Stablecoin Forum," hosted by Seoul Economic Daily and Decenter at Coinone's headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. At the event, held under the theme "AI Payments, Stablecoins and Security," Yoo said, "Even if a majority of a consortium's stake goes to banks, I believe the door is always open for a technology company to be the largest shareholder." That means that even if several banks' combined holdings exceed 50%, a technology firm could still hold the biggest stake on an individual-company basis.
Yoo stressed that banks holding a majority stake does not mean technology companies are excluded. "There is no regulation barring technology companies from being the largest shareholder," he said. "Since banks alone cannot drive innovation, the participation of technology companies is essential."
Still, the FSC maintains that a bank-centered shareholder structure is needed in the early stage to establish trust in stablecoins as a means of payment. Unlike ordinary cryptocurrencies, stablecoins must maintain a stable value and be reliable enough for users to make payments, and banks' ability to supply additional capital and their compliance capabilities, including anti-money laundering (AML), can help the system take root, he explained. He also emphasized that banks would not handle issuance and operations directly but would participate as shareholders through a separate consortium.
Yoo also left open the possibility of expanding the pool of issuers. "Stablecoins are currently used mainly for cryptocurrency investment and account for a small share of general commerce, but their range of use will widen into areas such as trade and transactions by artificial intelligence (AI) agents," he said. "If we review and improve operational issues and shortcomings in laws and systems, I think there could be an opportunity to broaden the range of issuers."
Suh Byung-yoon, co-CEO of DSRV, who joined the panel discussion with Yoo, agreed that "compliance capabilities such as anti-money laundering are important in the early stage of the system," but added, "restricting issuers mainly to banks is a regulation with few parallels anywhere in the world."
On the Digital Asset Basic Act, Yoo said authorities will work to push it through as quickly as possible. Responding to suggestions that regulators lack the will to pass the digital asset law, he said, "That is not at all the case," adding, "Both the government and the National Assembly now share the view that this is a time when some speed is needed." He also said, "For stablecoins to be used in actual transactions, laws such as the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, commercial transaction laws and the Specialized Credit Finance Business Act must be revised," adding, "Once the digital asset law is introduced, we plan to overhaul those areas as well."
Regulators also addressed another contentious issue in the digital asset law — limits on major shareholders' stakes in exchanges — saying the measure is intended to ensure fairness and transparency in the market. "There are about 11 million accounts at domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, equivalent to one-fifth of Korea's population," Yoo said. "A market with that many participating citizens must have fairness and transparency." He added, "Questions have been raised about whether fairness can be guaranteed when exchange stakes are concentrated among a few shareholders, so we are considering various options."
Original reporting by Kim Jung-woo and Do Ye-ri for Seoul Economic Daily.
AI-translated from Korean. Quotes from foreign sources are based on Korean-language reports and may not reflect exact original wording.
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