The Bank of Korea aims to prepare an amendment with the government by year-end. Under a separate timetable, service providers will begin filing transfer and balance reports on December 2.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) plans to work with the government on changes to the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act that would regulate stablecoins as payment instruments. Digital Asset reported on October 23 that the central bank said it aimed to prepare the amendment by the end of 2026 in its October 22 parliamentary audit report. BOK also wants to monitor cross-border digital asset transfers.
BOK used the report to answer lawmakers’ requests from the 2025 parliamentary audit. Lawmakers had called for stronger international payment infrastructure, an extension of large-value payment operating hours to 8 p.m. Korean local time, and attention to money-laundering risks when global crypto exchanges enter Korea. BOK said it was consulting ministries on reporting cross-border transactions through the foreign exchange information network.
The year-end target is a draft, not an effective date
Digital Asset quotes BOK’s intention to prepare an amendment with the government. The bank has not announced parliamentary approval, an effective date or final stablecoin provisions. Nor has it announced a new ban or permission requirement for users’ transactions.
“Regulate stablecoins as payment instruments”
The bank sees transfers made outside financial institutions and tools that obscure transaction trails as monitoring challenges. It points to mixers, which hide links between transfers, and to countries applying different rules to wallets that users control themselves. The central bank wants more international cooperation against illicit transactions and less opportunity to exploit regulatory gaps while legislation is prepared; it is not declaring every personal-wallet transaction illegal.
The Block’s report the same day also notes work on Korea’s Digital Asset Basic Act. Exchange licensing and stablecoin issuance are among the broader legislation’s subjects. Defining payment instruments under foreign exchange law, licensing an issuer and reporting users’ transactions are distinct legal steps. On October 13, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) announced its decision to block websites for 27 unregistered crypto services. That action concerned platforms’ registration obligations in Korea.
Who is covered by the December 2 reporting timetable?
Digital Asset also reported details from BOK’s manual for digital asset transfer service providers. According to the report, the bank will start receiving records of transfers between domestic crypto exchanges and overseas exchanges, foreign custodians or personal wallets through the foreign exchange information network on December 2, 2026. Lawmaker Park Soo-young obtained the manual, which assigns the filings to service providers.
Providers will list each individual’s or company’s transfers separately by asset and transaction in the daily FX1020 return. Transfers to or from a user’s own address are included. Fields cover the time, asset code, network, transaction ID (TXID), quantity, unit price, won value and fee, as well as each party’s individual/company and resident/nonresident status, nationality and identifying details. Providers must also distinguish overseas exchanges, custodians and personal wallets and supply the counterparty’s country, platform name and digital asset address.
Providers will use an “other” classification when they cannot establish the platform or wallet type. Digital Asset says providers must also use “other” when they cannot classify a transfer below 1 million won. According to the report, the manual sets no separate minimum reporting amount or blanket exemption for transactions below that figure.
| Return | Measurement period | Submission deadline |
|---|---|---|
| FX1020 transfers | Transactions completed from 00:00 to 23:59:59 | 11 a.m. the next day; 11 a.m. the next business day if weekend or holiday submission is impracticable |
| FX1021 monthly balances | Balance at 23:59:59 on the last calendar day of the month | 5:30 p.m. on the 10th of the following month |
According to the separate account of monthly balance reporting, users with at least one cross-border transfer since July 19, 2024 will be included in FX1021 even in months without a new transfer. Whether providers must submit the historical transaction records themselves has not been decided; BOK will consider the question with providers.
The monthly return covers asset quantities, their won value and aggregate inbound and outbound cross-border flows during the month. Providers must include dormant accounts, delisted tokens and staked assets. Where a platform cannot price a token, providers will use prices from other domestic exchanges or CoinMarketCap. A user who closes an account or has a zero balance remains in that month’s return, leaves the following month’s reporting group and re-enters if a balance returns.
Keep the two timetables separate. December 2 is the start of provider reporting described in Digital Asset’s account of the manual. BOK’s year-end goal concerns preparing a forex-law amendment addressing stablecoins as payment instruments. The dates cannot be combined into approval and commencement dates for the same law.
How can stablecoin demand reach the currency market?
BOK’s research summary published on September 3, 2026 examines the link between buying dollar stablecoins and purchasing dollars directly in the foreign exchange market. Using local currency to buy a token tracking the dollar gives an investor a dollar-denominated asset. Demand reaches the currency market through intermediaries able to trade both tokens and foreign exchange. The strength of the link depends on that access.
The researchers compared periods around Binance’s introduction of trading pairs between particular fiat currencies and dollar stablecoins. A global intermediary can give buyers stablecoins it holds, then adjust its foreign exchange position to account for the local currency it receives. The study found that the local stablecoin premium over the dollar exchange rate declined after a trading pair opened. A wider premium gap between a domestic exchange and Binance was also associated with larger token inflows from Binance to the local exchange.
Before a pair opened, the relationship between the premium and the exchange rate was not significant; afterwards, rising premiums were associated with local-currency depreciation against the dollar. BOK says that because Binance does not offer a won trading pair, demand in Korea has mainly raised the stablecoin premium. The researchers compare market structures; they do not calculate capital outflows from individual purchases or explain the won’s movements on October 23.
Corporate and foreign participation could strengthen the link
The research suggests that greater corporate and foreign-investor participation in the domestic market could strengthen links between stablecoin transactions and foreign exchange. BOK’s researchers recommend that policymakers also assess the won’s international use and whether the currency market has enough liquidity to absorb new demand.
BOK’s official video dated December 15, 2025 discusses stablecoins and cross-border capital movements at 1:36. At 4:52, the speakers discuss identity checks and anti-money-laundering tools. The recording provides background from before the October 2026 announcements.
