South Korea’s Central Bank Doubles Down on Crypto—Launches Dedicated ’Cryptoassets Department’

Seoul shakes up the financial status quo with a bold institutional embrace of digital assets.

Regulators Finally Wake Up

After years of watching crypto markets from the sidelines—and losing ground to fintech hubs like Singapore—South Korea’s central bank is diving in headfirst. The newly minted 'Cryptoassets Department' signals a seismic shift: bureaucrats are done pretending blockchain is a fringe experiment.

What’s the Play?

No details yet on whether this means CBDC development, exchange oversight, or just another committee to write reports nobody reads. But with retail trading volumes hitting $12B monthly (despite the government’s best efforts to 'protect' citizens), the move reeks of catch-up economics.

The Finance Jab

Because nothing screams 'innovation' like a central bank creating a department to study the thing it spent five years warning might collapse the economy.

Cryptoassets Department: New BOK Division to Monitor Crypto Sector

The BOK also announced that its Digital Currency Research Lab, which operates within its Financial Settlement Bureau, will be renamed the Digital Currency Lab on July 31. News1 explained:

“This appears to be an attempt to emphasize its status as a business unit.”

The bank added that it has also reorganized the roles of the teams that make up the lab, and will assign staffers to test token usability.

The BOK said its Cryptoasset Team Department WOULD operate within its Financial Settlement Bureau.

This division, it said, will be responsible for monitoring the crypto market. Its remit will also include Korean won-pegged stablecoins and legislative matters.

The media outlet wrote that experts have interpreted the reshuffle as an “attempt to better respond to recent discussions on stablecoin issuance, while continuing work on its central bank digital currency (CBDC).”

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CBDC Plans on Ice?

The BOK recently hit the pause button on its CBDC rollout plans, seemingly in direct response to the government’s stablecoin legalization plans.

The bank seems to believe that CBDC-based deposit tokens are no different from bank-supported KRW stablecoins.

The BOK Governor Rhee Chang-yong said last year that deposit tokens are essentially “stablecoins issued by banks.” Rhee said earlier this month:

“No matter if we are talking about a won stablecoin or a deposit token, we will need a digital currency in the future. We will carefully consider whether it is better to gradually MOVE forward with a focus on the banking sector or to expand this to the wider private sector.”

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South Korean Stablecoin Regulation Incoming

The bank’s move comes just hours after the nation’s two biggest political parties rolled out stablecoin regulation bills.

Both bills propose giving the Financial Services Committee sweeping regulatory powers over the stablecoin industry.

Critics think this will significantly diminish the role of the BOK. And the BOK has previously hit out at private sector stablecoin adoption plans.

It claims that KRW-pegged coins could undermine Seoul’s ability to conduct effective monetary policy.

Some of the country’s biggest tech firms have already registered KRW stablecoin-themed trademarks in anticipation of a green light from Seoul.