South Korea relaxes ban on institutional crypto trading, FSC introduces new rules to reshape market order
B.news
South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced that it will officially allow non-profit organizations and virtual asset exchanges to sell their cryptocurrency holdings on a limited basis starting in June this year. This is a major policy adjustment since the government's comprehensive ban on institutional cryptocurrency trading in 2017, marking a key step for South Korean regulators to balance market flexibility with investor protection.
Under the new regulations, non-profit organizations can legally sell cryptocurrency donations after meeting a series of compliance conditions. These conditions include: having at least five years of financial audit records, setting up a dedicated donation review committee, and only accepting tokens listed on at least three won-denominated exchanges, and must sell them immediately after receiving them to prevent market manipulation and asset volatility risks.
At the same time, virtual asset exchanges are also allowed to sell their crypto assets for the purpose of raising operating funds, but sales will be strictly restricted. For example, there is a daily sales limit, and trading through own platforms is prohibited, and must be completed through third-party channels; the assets that can be sold are limited to the top 20 tokens by market value to control market liquidity risks. In addition, all transactions must strictly comply with financial regulatory standards such as anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT).
The FSC also simultaneously strengthened the token listing review mechanism to combat the proliferation of "zombie coins" and highly volatile meme coins. According to the new regulations, local trading platforms are required to regularly screen and remove tokens with low trading volume, stagnant development activities or no actual use scenarios. In addition, for meme coin assets, stricter thresholds will be introduced, such as having a certain number of active users or having a good historical trading record, in order to improve market transparency and protect the interests of retail investors.
The regulator emphasized that this series of policies is intended to inject more norms and trust into the digital asset market, while gradually opening up institutional entry. The FSC said that it will consider further expanding the scope of application of the policy in the future, and plans to allow corporate and institutional investors to hold and trade cryptocurrencies under a specific framework by the end of 2025 to promote the process of legalization and mainstreaming.
Industry insiders believe that South Korea's move not only reflects its recognition of the development potential of the digital asset industry, but also shows that the regulatory direction is gradually shifting from "total ban" to a new model of "limited release + strict supervision". Against the backdrop of global crypto policy games, South Korea is trying to explore a regulatory path with controllable risks and orderly development to pave the way for its Web3 ecosystem construction and financial technology innovation.
