South Korea’s Central Bank Pushes For Fast-Track Won Stablecoins With Mandatory Bank-Majority Ownership

South Korea’s central bank has come out firmly in favour of introducing a won-denominated stablecoin framework without further delay, signalling that the country’s long-pending digital asset legislation may finally be gaining momentum. The Bank of Korea (BOK) used a high-profile parliamentary session on July 9 to press for swift action, while also laying out a clear vision of how it believes the emerging digital currency landscape should be structured.

At the core of the BOK’s position is the view that stablecoins, deposit tokens, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are not rivals but complementary instruments — each with its own role within the broader monetary ecosystem. Rather than picking winners, the central bank appears to be advocating for a framework that lets all three coexist and compete, with appropriate guardrails in place to protect financial stability.

Banks First, Innovation Second 

The most consequential aspect of the BOK’s stance concerns who gets to issue won-backed stablecoins. The central bank has put its weight behind a consortium model in which commercial banks hold a controlling majority stake — specifically more than 50% — in any stablecoin-issuing entity. The rationale is risk containment: by anchoring issuance within the regulated banking sector, authorities aim to prevent stablecoins from eroding monetary policy effectiveness or creating backdoor channels around foreign exchange controls.

Alongside the bank-led issuance model, the BOK called for the establishment of a statutory coordination body — a permanent, legally grounded council bringing together the central bank and key financial regulators — to jointly govern issuance licences, reserve requirements, issuance caps, and systemic risk assessments. The proposal reflects a broader desire to ensure that no single agency holds unilateral control over a market with significant macroeconomic implications.

The bank-majority model is not without its critics. A competing school of thought argues that handing banks a structural majority in stablecoin consortia would entrench incumbents and undercut the very competition the framework is supposed to encourage — particularly given that banks are already set to participate in deposit token schemes. Critics contend that true competition between CBDCs, deposit tokens, and stablecoins becomes difficult if banks effectively dominate two of the three categories.

South Korea’s digital asset legislation has faced repeated delays since early 2026, with disagreements over issuance structures and ownership rules among the central sticking points. With the BOK now advocating publicly for a specific design — and broad political support for faster action — the debate is shifting from whether to legislate to how.

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