South Korea's FSC Fast-Tracks Stablecoin Legislation, Takes Cautious Stance on AI Commerce

South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has formalized its goal of completing the Digital Asset Framework Act (second-stage legislation) related to stablecoins as quickly as possible. Conversely, the regulator has decided to take a cautious approach to the introduction of "AI commerce"—where artificial intelligence agents automatically process payments—citing financial stability risks.

"We are in discussions with relevant agencies with the aim of completing virtual asset legislation as soon as possible," said Yoo Young-joon, the FSC's Director General for Digital Finance Policy, at the "Korea Strategic Economy Forum" held at the Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 21st. "We will finalize stablecoin legislation promptly," he stated. This marks the first time this year that the director general overseeing the Digital Asset Framework Act has publicly expressed a position on stablecoin-related legislation.

This legislative push is based on a consensus formed during a closed-door briefing on the 20th between lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea's Political Affairs Committee, the FSC, and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). During that meeting, attended by Democratic Party Political Affairs Committee Chairman Yoo Dong-soo and Secretary Park Sang-hyuk, FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won reported on plans to complete digital asset legislation within the year. Immediately after the briefing, lawmaker Park Sang-hyuk relayed, "There was a general consensus that the government should quickly prepare legislation [for won-pegged stablecoins], as market outlooks differ regarding the impact of the U.S. GENIUS Act taking effect next year."

Currently, a total of 10 bills related to digital assets and stablecoins are pending in the National Assembly, proposed by both ruling and opposition parties, starting with a bill introduced by Democratic Party lawmaker Min Byung-duk in June of last year. In the first half of this year, the parties failed to reach an agreement on key issues, including whether to restrict the issuance of won-pegged stablecoins to bank-led consortia (holding 50% plus one share, known as the "51% rule") or to uniformly apply a 15-20% equity cap on virtual asset exchanges such as Dunamu (Upbit), Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Streami (Gopax).

After finalizing inter-agency discussions on these core issues, the government plans to begin full-scale party-government consultations with the ruling party's new leadership and policy committee chairman, who will be elected at the national convention on the 17th of next month. Party-government talks are expected to become visible as early as the end of next month. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Min-kyu said, "As soon as the new leadership and policy committee chairman are appointed, we will reconstitute the digital asset task force (TF) and, after consultations with the government, push to propose [a unified party-government bill] in September." The Political Affairs Committee plans to convene subcommittee meetings twice a month, as stipulated by the National Assembly Act, to expedite the processing of pending bills.

At the forum, Director General Yoo outlined the basic framework for legislation in the second half of the year, citing "the classification, definition, and conduct regulation of virtual assets; the creation of a fair and efficient virtual asset market; and regulations for virtual asset user protection." He added, "Naturally, matters concerning the issuance and circulation of stablecoins will also be included."

In stark contrast to the accelerated push for stablecoin legislation, the government maintained a cautious, hands-off stance on AI agent commerce. AI agent commerce is a next-generation payment method where AI autonomously handles everything from product purchases to service usage and payment settlement, drawing attention this year when Google unveiled related payment features.

"We need to prepare for the potential risks posed by AI agents, such as conflicts of interest, erroneous actions, and herding behavior," Director General Yoo emphasized. "We must also examine the risks AI agents pose to the financial sector, and consumer protection issues must be addressed without fail." In a written congratulatory address, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho also suggested a multi-year testing phase, stating, "We will devise institutional improvement measures to demonstrate AI commerce using a regulatory sandbox."

Meanwhile, industry and academic figures urged preparation, arguing that stablecoins will become the core payment method in the era of AI commerce. Lee Yoo-jin, CEO of Zekto, predicted, "Stablecoins will come to the fore in the AI commerce era because they reduce fee burdens and settlement cycles compared to existing card networks." Kim Yong-jin, a professor at Sogang University Business School, argued, "The vast majority of on-chain transactions occur with stablecoins, and they are what people prefer. Moving toward stablecoins is a more desirable alternative than central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)."

On the other hand, Jung Dae-hee, Vice President of Research at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), acknowledged that stablecoins are a powerful infrastructure but raised the need for a technology-neutral approach, asking, "Technologically speaking, do we have to think only of stablecoins in relation to AI commerce?"

Alongside these discussions, the ruling and opposition parties also agreed to strengthen supervision across the broader financial market. At the briefing on the 20th, lawmakers reportedly instructed FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin to establish a preemptive financial supervisory system suited to the AI era and to ensure thorough risk management and supervision amid a rising interest rate environment. Consequently, monitoring of virtual asset trading processes and inspections of exchanges' internal controls are expected to be further intensified.