FSS Proposes E-Payment Law for Won Stablecoins as Crypto Bill Stalls

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service proposed adapting the country’s existing Electronic Financial Transactions Act to won-denominated stablecoins used for payments after the Digital Asset Basic Act, which was expected to govern them, remained stalled without passage. The move leaves issuer policy anchored to an older payments framework while dedicated legislation remains unsettled.

On the same day, Dunamu’s vice chairman expressed frustration with the pace of regulation in South Korea. Dunamu operates Upbit, identified as the country’s largest crypto exchange. The comments placed an exchange operator’s concern beside the FSS proposal without supplying a new timetable or detailed legislative amendment.

The FSS’s interim legal route

At a separate Seoul forum on stablecoin policy, Shim Eun-seop, head of the FSS’s electronic finance inspection bureau, said: “Stablecoins used for payments in the country will have to adapt to the existing Electronic Financial Transactions Act.”

Shim tied the recommendation to legislative timing: the Digital Asset Basic Act had been expected to govern the instruments, but it had not passed. The FSS position therefore uses the existing payments statute as the available route for domestic payment stablecoins while the dedicated regime remains pending.

What does this change for stablecoin issuers?

For issuers and payment-service firms, the immediate planning target changes from a dedicated digital-asset regime that has not taken effect to the existing payments statute. Under Shim’s proposal, won stablecoins used for payments need a legal structure compatible with the Electronic Financial Transactions Act rather than an undefined status created by legislative delay.

Three points define the interim position:

• Payment use: FSS says stablecoins used for payments should adapt to the existing act.
• Issuer legislation: The Digital Asset Basic Act, the specific framework for issuers, remains stalled and has not passed.
• Implementation: The proposal supplies no deadline, implementing timetable or complete issuer-specific rules.

This creates a two-stage regulatory sequence. The FSS proposal supplies a route for payment stablecoins while the broader statute remains pending, but adaptation to the older law does not settle the bespoke regime envisioned for issuers.

Why the delay matters to market participants

Dunamu’s intervention matters because the company operates in the domestic crypto market through Upbit. Its vice chairman’s public frustration shows that regulatory timing has become a business concern for a major exchange operator, although the comments do not identify a specific product, rule change or investment plan.

For an issuer weighing a won stablecoin, the unresolved issue is not whether payment use can be addressed under current law; Shim addressed that directly. The uncertainty is how long the interim route will remain and what final form the stalled legislation will take.

That distinction turns policy delay into an execution variable for companies seeking to plan around won payment products. It also raises the cost of waiting for the dedicated framework before defining a product’s legal treatment.

The proposal sets out no implementation deadline, final issuer obligations or broader legislative timetable. That leaves compliance teams without a dated endpoint and keeps the regulatory outcome tied to a legislative sequence rather than a settled issuer framework.

What remains unresolved

The FSS position addresses one segment of the market: stablecoins used for payments in South Korea. It does not announce that the Electronic Financial Transactions Act has already been amended, and it does not revive the Digital Asset Basic Act. Regulators have proposed an interim route, not completed the legislative overhaul.

For issuers, the proposed statutory destination is identified but the eventual operating standard is not. The FSS points to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act; the dedicated framework remains pending.

The next legislative checkpoint

The next market-structure checkpoint is legislative: South Korea must either advance the Digital Asset Basic Act or complete the FSS proposal under the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. Until one path produces operative rules, won payment stablecoins remain tied to an interim framework rather than a dedicated issuer regime; neither path carries a stated deadline.