With South Korea's stablecoin legislation lagging behind, Tether and Circle are accelerating their efforts to seize the local market.

PANews reported on February 26th that, according to News1, due to the slow pace of legislation related to stablecoins in South Korea, the world's two largest stablecoin issuers, Tether and Circle, are accelerating their expansion of market share in the country. Currently, the South Korean government is planning to introduce the "Digital Asset Basic Law," requiring overseas issuers to establish branches in South Korea before their assets can be traded. To this end, Tether has begun a large-scale recruitment drive for South Korean public relations, blockchain research, and government affairs personnel.

Meanwhile, Circle also considers South Korea a key foothold in Asia. Data shows that USDC's market share on South Korean exchanges such as Korbit and Coinone has recently surged to over 10%. Industry insiders point out that the legislative process has stalled due to conflicts of interest because South Korean regulators currently prefer to restrict stablecoin issuance to "bank-led conglomerates." Experts warn that if the issuance of a Korean won stablecoin continues to face difficulties, the dominance of the South Korean cryptocurrency market may completely fall into the hands of overseas dollar-denominated stablecoins.