South Korea’s Digital Asset eXchange Alliance, or DAXA, has released its "2026 Digital Asset Policy Reference," according to Korean media outlet Dailian. In the paper, Seoul National University professor Cho Jae-woo said a regulatory vacuum has pushed domestic crypto projects to move both token issuance entities and business operations overseas since South Korea imposed its ICO ban in 2017. He cited Klaytn, whose token issuance is handled by a Singapore entity, and Wemade’s WEMIX, which also uses a Singapore-based issuer. The trend later spread further, with Metabora moving to Dubai and NeoFin relocating its foundation to Abu Dhabi. Experts quoted in the report said the main obstacles include a regulatory gap between domestic and overseas issuers, as well as difficulties in opening corporate bank accounts. Their argument was not for looser oversight, but for clearer rules. They called for South Korea’s proposed basic digital asset law to spell out licensing standards for issuance, custody and validation businesses, and to create dedicated procedures for bringing core offshore functions back into the country.
South Korea’s Digital Asset eXchange Alliance, or DAXA, has released its "2026 Digital Asset Policy Reference," according to Korean media outlet Dailian.
In the report, Seoul National University professor Cho Jae-woo said that since South Korea’s 2017 ICO ban, domestic crypto projects have continued to move their issuing entities and business bases overseas because of a regulatory vacuum.
Cho cited Klaytn, whose token issuance is handled by a Singapore entity. Wemade’s WEMIX also uses a Singapore-based legal entity as its issuer. After that, Metabora moved to Dubai, while NeoFin relocated its foundation to Abu Dhabi, showing that the outflow trend has continued to intensify.
Main obstacles cited: regulatory gaps and banking access
Experts said the key obstacles include differences in regulation between domestic and overseas issuers, along with difficulties in opening corporate bank accounts.
They argued that what South Korea needs is "not looser regulation, but clearer rules." The report called for the country’s basic digital asset law to clearly define licensing standards for issuance, custody and validation businesses, and to establish dedicated procedures for bringing core offshore functions back to South Korea.
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