South Korea postpones the passage of the second phase of the Virtual Asset Act due to controversy over stablecoin and other clauses.

PANews reported on January 26th, citing Techinasia, that the second phase of South Korea's Virtual Asset Act legislation has been delayed due to controversy surrounding key clauses. The bill aims to comprehensively regulate digital assets, including stablecoins. The main points of contention are twofold: first, the issuer qualifications for Korean won stablecoins—whether they should be banks or authorized companies; and second, whether to relax restrictions on the separation of financial and virtual asset operations to encourage innovation. Furthermore, the bill proposes a 15%-20% cap on shareholdings by major shareholders in exchanges, a restriction criticized as overly restrictive.

Due to legislative delays, discussions on related issues such as spot virtual asset ETFs and the trading of virtual assets by listed companies have also been put on hold. Negotiations are still ongoing among government agencies, industry participants, and political groups.