In the statement made on December 4, 2024, FSC officials stated that the decision in question has not yet been finalized and discussions are continuing.

This statement corresponded to claims by media outlets such as Korea Economic Daily that the FSC is preparing a plan to allow companies and financial institutions to participate in crypto trading, starting with universities and local governments in 2025.

The FSC emphasized that it has not yet made a decision on the use of institutional real-name accounts for crypto assets and that further discussions are needed on this issue. The institution wanted the news to be done carefully and to avoid any room for misconceptions. As a result, this announcement led to great uncertainty for local stock exchanges and financial institutions.

The current situation in the crypto market in South Korea is complicated by the fact that companies are effectively banned from participating in crypto trading in the country. Companies wishing to trade on cryptocurrency exchanges must use real-name accounts only through licensed banks that have partnered with crypto exchanges.

However, banks generally do not allow companies to open these accounts, and this is attributed to their non-compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.

For this reason, South Korea’s crypto market is largely driven by retail investors. By early 2024, this led to the Korean won becoming one of the most traded fiat-crypto trading pairs worldwide.

According to the FSC’s statement, it was stated that the issue of corporate crypto accounts should be discussed further. However, last November, it was stated that a new crypto committee established by the FSC was working on various solutions to increase institutional participation.

At the crypto committee’s first meeting on November 6, strategies to increase institutional participation were discussed. Following this meeting, hopes were raised that steps would be taken to further facilitate participation in crypto trading for exchanges and financial institutions.

South Korea has recently become one of the largest crypto markets in the world. The country has an important place in crypto trade volume, and this volume increased rapidly, especially at the beginning of 2024. The growth in the crypto market reflects the interest of investors and institutions in the country in digital assets.

South Korea’s growing crypto industry is seen as a pioneer of emerging crypto markets around the world. In addition, the government of South Korea is taking important steps towards the digital economy by rapidly keeping up with technological developments.

A brief political crisis last week also highlighted the size of South Korea’s crypto market. President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, only to have this decision reversed by the National Assembly and rescinded by the president within six hours.

During this six-hour period, South Korea’s crypto trading volume reached $35 billion. This has surpassed Indonesia’s total crypto trade volume until October 2024 and once again reveals South Korea’s strong crypto economy.

Uncertainty remains regarding regulations and institutional participation in cryptocurrency trading in South Korea. However, developments in this field are among the factors that increase the size and importance of the crypto market in the country.