On November 10, 2026, at a discussion in Yeouido, Seoul, Shim Eun-seop, director of the Electronic Finance Inspection Bureau at South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), said that if stablecoins are used as electronic payment instruments, applying the Electronic Financial Transactions Act is unavoidable. He framed the point around fairness with existing electronic payment methods, user protection, and the stability of payment and settlement.
Shim said that applying different laws to the same payment and settlement transaction solely because the payment tool differs could create regulatory arbitrage and confusion. He argued for a small-scale license under the Act for firms conducting stablecoin payment and settlement business, together with obligations on stability safeguards, drafting and filing of terms, protection of top-up funds and settlement funds, protection of transaction information, and dispute handling. He also said he fully agreed that anti-money-laundering duties should be imposed separately on issuers, wallet providers, and payment-business operators.
Kim Bo-il, head of the Bank of Korea’s virtual-asset group, restated that stablecoin issuance should begin with banks at the center, and that eligibility to issue should be widened only after it is confirmed that the technology can connect effectively with existing systems and supervision. He described this as a compromise, offered in the absence of an optimal plan, to reduce the risk that stablecoins are used to evade regulation. He also said policymakers should carefully assess how far South Korea’s national-level payment system depends on global private networks, and how linkage and interoperability with existing systems should be designed.
Yonhap News Agency, cited by BlockBeats, said the government bill for the Digital Asset Basic Act—expected to be released within the month—is likely to center stablecoin issuance mainly on bank-led consortia.
Other speakers took a broader view of who should participate. Hwang Seok-jin, a professor at Dongguk University, suggested that rather than an issuance structure led by one particular industry, participation should be open to operators that meet set qualification and responsibility requirements. Lee Dong-cheol, chairman of the Credit Finance Association, said he hoped more parts of the financial industry would join a won-stablecoin issuance consortium and contribute their respective strengths. Namgung Cheol of Shinhan Card said overseas stablecoin payment cases generally rely on the Visa network, and that if South Korea wants early circulation in payments it may also need to use card-network infrastructure to some degree.
The discussion was hosted by the Democratic Party of Korea’s AI Finance and Economy Promotion Group. Lawmakers attending said they expected the government bill to be introduced within the month.
Original report: BlockBeats, published November 10, 2026, citing Yonhap News Agency.
