South Korea’s Financial Services Commission plans to exclude U.S. dollar-based stablecoins from corporate trading, encouraging Won-based alternatives to protect monetary sovereignty. Blockchain researcher Jinsol Bok argues this could accelerate capital outflows, while DWF Ventures sees a major opportunity in the country’s tech-savvy, crypto-active population.
South Korea’s plan to exclude U.S. dollar-based stablecoins from corporate trading continues to elicit mixed views from experts. The country’s watchdog, the Financial Services Commission, seeks to encourage Won-based stablecoins to ensure monetary sovereignty and prevent capital outflows.
Jinsol Bok, a Research Lead at the South Korea-based blockchain research firm Four Pillars, cautioned that the move could produce opposite results. “KRW stablecoins are actually quite likely to accelerate capital outflows, which is exactly what regulators are concerned about,” he stated.
He stressed that the problem is not unique to South Korea. “Unfortunately, for most countries, almost everywhere outside the U.S., removing FX controls and opening the financial system on-chain would likely lead to more capital outflow than inflow,” Bok added. His argument mirrors Standard Chartered Bank‘s projection that about $1 trillion could exit emerging markets into stablecoins by 2028.
Bok argued that most South Korean players, such as Kakao Pay, already offer users yield on digital balances, providing little incentive to embrace a KRW stablecoin. For Bok, the only viable opportunity is faster cross-border settlement and fee optimization for service providers, suggesting retail adoption may be limited.
This was a contrarian view to venture firm DWF Ventures, which sees the KRW stablecoin as a massive opportunity. The firm added that South Korea’s 18 million crypto holders and tech-savvy population would lead to natural adoption. DWF Ventures cited the USDT premium and the ‘Kimchi Premium’ as reasons to hold the KRW stablecoin.
“This reflects a need for a KRW stablecoin that could potentially provide deeper liquidity on KRW pairs, while countering the dominance of USD stablecoins to stem capital outflows,” the firm stated. Asia currently leads global stablecoin activity, accounting for 60% of the $30 trillion annual volume. The FSC is expected to finalize and publish the corporate crypto rules soon.
