The Bank of Korea has reaffirmed that won-denominated stablecoins should launch first through bank-led consortiums, hardening a stance that has stalled the country’s digital asset bill. The central bank also said it will keep expanding deposit-token pilots through the second half of the year.
The Bank of Korea is refusing to bend on who gets to issue won stablecoins. In materials submitted Thursday to the National Assembly’s finance committee, the central bank again backed priority issuance by bank-led consortiums, according to local reports from Digital Asset and EDaily. It also called for a statutory policy body involving relevant agencies.
That position is not new, but the BOK is holding it firmly. The central bank has spent months pressing to keep won stablecoin issuance inside bank-led structures, and the fight has split policymakers from industry groups.
Deposit-token pilots move ahead
While the issuance debate drags, the BOK is pushing its own tokenization work forward. The central bank said it plans to keep developing deposit-token use cases in the second half of the year, covering government subsidy payments, vouchers, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and further real-world transactions for the general public. Deposit tokens are digital tokens that stand in for commercial bank deposits.
The groundwork was laid earlier this year. In April, BOK Governor Hyun-Song Shin used his first public address to back deposit tokens and central bank digital currencies, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced a pilot using tokenized deposits for government operational spending.
A bill stuck on one question
The renewed comments feed directly into the standoff over South Korea’s Digital Asset Basic Act. That bill has repeatedly stalled over who should issue stablecoins, with the BOK pushing for banks to keep majority ownership of any issuer.
Lawmakers are still weighing how stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets and other digital assets should fit existing rules. In April, the ruling Democratic Party proposed folding stablecoins and RWAs under existing financial laws, yet the bank-led question stayed unresolved. The government had told President Lee Jae-myung in January it aimed to pass the bill by the first quarter of 2026, a target that has since slipped.
Source: Cointelegraph
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