The Bank of Korea has restated that won-denominated stablecoins should be issued first through bank-led consortiums, renewing its position as South Korea’s digital asset legislation remains stuck in debate.
According to local reports from Digital Asset and EDaily, the central bank submitted documents on Thursday to the National Assembly’s finance committee. In those materials, the BOK said bank-led groups should receive priority in issuing won-backed stablecoins. It also proposed creating a statutory policy body that would bring together financial regulators and other relevant government agencies to oversee the sector.
BOK keeps banks at the center of issuance
The latest filing keeps in place a policy line the central bank has held for months. The BOK argues that banks should retain a leading role in stablecoin issuance because existing banking supervision offers a stronger base for financial stability and consumer protection. That view remains one of the central fault lines in the bill.
Lawmakers have not reached agreement on whether stablecoins should be limited to bank-led issuers or whether non-bank companies should also be allowed under the new framework. The disagreement has split policymakers, financial institutions, and parts of the digital asset sector.
Deposit-token pilots are set to expand this year
Alongside its stablecoin position, the BOK said it plans to broaden practical use cases for deposit tokens in the second half of this year. Materials submitted to lawmakers listed government subsidy payments, public vouchers, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and other real-world payment services for the general public.
Deposit tokens are blockchain-based digital representations of commercial bank deposits. Support for that track has already appeared in earlier policy moves. In April, BOK Governor Hyun-Song Shin used his first public address to voice support for both deposit tokens and central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. During the same month, South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance announced a pilot program using tokenized bank deposits for government operational spending.
Unresolved disputes keep delaying the Digital Asset Basic Act
Progress on deposit-token projects has continued, but the broader legislative package has moved more slowly. Stablecoin rules remain one of the biggest sticking points, and lawmakers are also weighing how tokenized real-world assets, or RWAs, and other digital assets should fit within South Korea’s existing financial regulations.
In April, the ruling Democratic Party proposed regulating both stablecoins and RWAs under current financial laws, yet key questions over issuer eligibility were left open. Earlier this year, the government told President Lee Jae-myung that it was targeting the first quarter of 2026 for the Digital Asset Basic Act.
Local reports said that timeline later slipped because of disruptions linked to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran that began in late February, local elections, and the time needed to reorganize committee structures within the National Assembly. With its latest submission, the Bank of Korea has again made clear that coordinated oversight and bank-led issuance remain, in its view, necessary safeguards before won-backed stablecoins move into broader circulation.