Key Takeaways:
- Starting June 2025, South Korean non-profits may legally sell donated cryptocurrencies under strict internal and regulatory controls.
- Virtual asset exchanges can liquidate crypto-based user fees, subject to new oversight rules to curb market impact and money laundering.
- Updated transaction support standards aim to stabilize trading conditions and mitigate risks from speculative or illiquid crypto tokens.
In a major leap towards market formalization for digital assets, the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) has finalized the detailed operating guidelines for the sales of cryptocurrencies by exchanges and non-profit entities from June 2025.
In its fourth Virtual Asset Committee meeting, these steps mark the government’s strategic goal of mainstreaming virtual assets into the formal oversight framework. The new framework permits qualifying NGOs to monetize digital assets gained through donations.
The qualifying institutions need to be under external audit oversight with an operational history for at least five years. Additional measures involve the setup of an in-house Donation Review Committee for advance approval on the legitimacy and monetization strategy for the donations.
All sales would be restricted to tokens that are currently traded on three or more local KRW exchanges, with an imperative for the coins to be cashed out into fiat in real-time. Overlapping Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) screening will be mandatory among banks, exchanges, and recipient organizations in order to prevent financial abuse.
Crypto exchange liquidations allowed with oversight.
Virtual asset exchanges will be able to convert user fees in cryptocurrencies into fiat for operational efficiency, but the policy sets clear limits in order to prevent conflict of interest and market disruption.
Only registered virtual asset business operators under South Korea’s Special Financial Transactions Act may engage in such activity. Furthermore, sales are confined to the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization across five KRW exchanges.
Daily sale volumes are capped at 10% of the intended liquidation amount, and transactions must occur outside of the exchange’s own platform to reduce price manipulation risks.
Further requirements for disclosure include board-level approvals and extensive pre- and post-disclosures in regard to sales operations and the use of funds. Such actions represent an increasing focus on compliance and accountability in digital asset operations.
Stricter Listing Protocols Target Market Volatility and Speculation
Alongside asset sale policies, the FSC unveiled revised transaction support best practices aimed at curbing instability triggered by listings of speculative or low-volume tokens. As a reaction to the recent increase in “listing beam” events, leading to extreme price fluctuations after listing, new procedures will mandate minimum circulation requirements and short-term market order limitations after the commencement of trading.
Assets flagged as “zombie coins” or “meme coins” with low trading volume or obscure utility will become subject to tighter listing standards, such as minimum user interactions and historical trading activity on trusted global exchanges. The changes reaffirm the FSC’s commitment towards building a safer, more mature trading market.
By June 2025, the FSC intends to put its standards into practice, with other legislation for token securities and company digital asset accounts following later in the year, marking a solid regulatory outlook for the country’s budding crypto market.
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