Limiting stablecoin issuance to banks would reproduce the existing financial system rather than improve it, Miles Jennings, head of policy at a16z Crypto, said on Oct. 1 at the a16z Crypto Korea Summit, held at the Josun Palace hotel in Seoul's Gangnam district.

"If stablecoin issuance is allowed only for banks, the products that emerge will likely resemble the existing financial system. They will not be as fast or as innovative as what entrepreneurs can build," Jennings said during his keynote at the event, the venture firm's first standalone summit in South Korea.

a16z Crypto is the digital-asset and blockchain investment arm of Andreessen Horowitz. Jennings used the keynote to walk through shifts in US crypto policy and to offer regulatory design options for Korean lawmakers now drafting their own framework.

The central question, he argued, is who may issue stablecoins at all. South Korean policy discussions have considered requiring banks to hold majority stakes in issuing entities. Jennings pointed instead to the US model under the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin statute enacted in July, which creates a licensing path for qualified nonbank issuers alongside obligations on reserve assets matching issuance and anti-money-laundering compliance.

"In the US, companies do not have to be banks to issue stablecoins if they receive government approval," he said. Concentrating issuance among incumbent financial institutions, he added, would keep products and services anchored to the framework of traditional finance.

The GENIUS Act also opened a route for foreign issuers that meet certain conditions to access the US market — a provision Jennings said changes the calculus for other jurisdictions.

"The fact that there is a pathway for foreign issuers is a powerful incentive for other countries to create their own stablecoin regimes," he said. Overseas approval does not translate into automatic US access: separate requirements apply, including a US assessment of the foreign regulatory framework and issuer registration.

Jennings also flagged extraterritorial reach as an open question. The extent to which US rules will govern overseas transactions remains under discussion as follow-up regulations are drafted, and Korean companies should map obligations in foreign markets alongside domestic ones.

On regulatory design, he argued that traditional finance rules were built around companies and intermediaries, while blockchain networks are open infrastructure. Forcing networks into a company-centered framework strips away their distinguishing properties.

"If you force networks into a company-centered regulatory framework, you end up making them take on the characteristics of companies," Jennings said. "Blockchain should function as public infrastructure that anyone can access and use." Regulators, he said, need to distinguish between services provided by companies and open networks to preserve the technology's advantages.

Even if the CLARITY Act, the pending US crypto market structure bill, stalls in Congress, Jennings said the migration of financial activity onto blockchain will continue. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission can still issue guidance and rules under existing statutes.

"Regulators have not been given new powers, so companies still need to comply with existing law," he said. "But they will get a clearer explanation of what those laws mean." Firms seeking institutional adoption, he added, should design services that let financial institutions use blockchain-based offerings while remaining within their current regulatory obligations.

Jennings closed with a direct appeal to Korean industry: engage the National Assembly and regulators now, while stablecoin legislation is being written. Without a won-based digital payment instrument, Korean companies risk constrained access to blockchain-based financial markets and deepening dollar dependence.

"If the absence of a digital won continues, the country could become cut off from these markets and more dependent on the dollar," he said. With Seoul's stablecoin bill still in drafting and US follow-up rules pending, the window for Korean firms to shape both frameworks is open now but will not stay open indefinitely.