The Democratic Party of Korea has laid out specific regulatory frameworks for real-world assets (RWA) and stablecoins, presenting standards for bringing digital assets into the formal regulatory system. The proposal allows digital assets backed by real-world assets on the condition of trust custody, while stablecoins would be managed as payment instruments under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
The integrated "Digital Asset Basic Act" draft obtained by The Seoul Economic Daily on Thursday from the Democratic Party's Digital Asset Task Force includes special provisions reflecting these measures. Article 112 stipulates that when issuing digital assets linked to real-world assets, the underlying assets must be deposited in managed trusts under the Capital Markets Act, with specific criteria delegated to presidential decree.
The move is considered significant as it brings the issuance of real-world asset-linked digital assets, which had existed in a regulatory vacuum, within an institutional framework. RWA is a concept encompassing tokenized securities that were institutionalized in Korea in January, referring to assets issued in blockchain-based token form—ranging from securities to U.S. Treasury bonds, commodities, and asset-backed loans.
For stablecoins, the proposal includes provisions applying foreign exchange regulations. Article 124 of the integrated bill stipulates that value-stabilized digital assets used in foreign exchange transactions shall be considered payment instruments under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. Accordingly, businesses handling such assets would fall under foreign exchange authorities' supervision without separate registration. However, exceptions exempt foreign exchange reporting obligations when payments are made within a certain range as consideration for goods or services. This is interpreted as allowing routine payments while managing large-scale fund movements.
Regarding stablecoin interest payments, which have become a contentious issue in the United States, the domestic proposal explicitly prohibits such practices. It bans issuers from providing interest to holders of value-stabilized digital assets at the issuer's expense, regardless of whether it is called discounts, rewards, or other names.
The bill also includes provisions requiring the Financial Services Commission to establish technical standards to ensure interoperability between distributed ledgers within the digital asset ecosystem. This appears to address concerns that liquidity could become fragmented if won-pegged stablecoins are issued on different blockchains.
The disclosure system will also be overhauled. Disclosures currently scattered across individual exchanges will be unified into an integrated disclosure system centered on the Digital Asset Business Association, with standardized information criteria for investors.
However, major issues that drew significant market attention—such as restrictions on exchange major shareholders' stakes and requirements for stablecoin issuers to hold bank equity—were not included in this integrated bill. The draft is dated February 23, and the Task Force is reportedly continuing follow-up discussions based on this version.
