| KOREA SIGNAL | by Holo Hive |
From hoodies to suits. 12,500 attendees, 330 speakers, ~40% from finance and policy. About 80% of exhibiting projects post-TGE.
Korea Blockchain Week 2026 ran September 30 – October 1 at Walkerhill Hotels, Seoul. Organiser FactBlock reported 12,500 attendees across the two main days, with 330 speakers across 120 sessions — roughly 40% from finance, policy or investment. New institutional partners this year included Korea Investment & Securities, Samsung Securities, Kyobo Life, Hyundai Card and LG CNS. The Upbit Institutional Summit on September 29 featured White House digital-asset adviser Patrick Witt, US Treasury's Jonathan Hurovitz, Korean lawmakers from both major parties, and regulators from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand alongside Korean financial conglomerates.
The main-stage messages set the direction: Dunamu CEO Oh Kyoung-suk said Upbit should expand from retail to institutions, positioning Dunamu as a bridge for banks, brokers and payment firms through shared trading, custody, transfer and AML infrastructure. Rep. Min Byoung-dug called the two sticking points in the Digital Asset Basic Act — bank-only stablecoin issuers and the 20% exchange ownership cap — "the wrong questions," arguing instead for 1:1 redemption and reserve verification. Bo Hines (Tether USA) said the next stage for stablecoins is AI-agent transactions. Jeff Yan (Hyperliquid) said self-custody and transparency are on-chain finance's real edge. Samsung Wallet announced it is working to support stablecoins natively. US voices — former White House official Harry Jung and a16z's Miles Jennings — both argued against bank-only won stablecoin issuance.
The community read: last year about 80% of projects were pre-TGE; this year about 80% were post-TGE. Foreign teams at KBW were mainly asking how to reach Korean stock investors through apps like Toss — not how to court crypto retail. Retail turnout was thin. The "free airdrop at meetups" era is over. About 191 official side events ran across the week, with RWA, tokenization, stablecoin and TradFi themes making up roughly 24%.
Kakao Pay Securities × Ondo. Shinhan × Solana. KB × BNY. MoonPay Korea subsidiary. Card companies complete stablecoin PoCs. The institutional build is running ahead of the law.
Around KBW, Korean financial institutions announced a wave of tokenization and stablecoin pilots. Kakao Pay Securities signed MOUs with both Ondo Finance and Dinari to build a way to distribute Korean-listed stocks to overseas investors, holding underlying shares in an omnibus account and running a joint task force for overseas retail. FSC Chair Lee Eok-won met Nasdaq, DTCC and HKEX executives to discuss tokenized securities and T+1 settlement. Shinhan Bank and the Solana Foundation completed a stablecoin-based corporate cross-border remittance proof-of-concept covering the full workflow. KB Kookmin Bank and BNY signed a digital-asset settlement MOU at SIBOS on September 28.
MoonPay set up a Korean subsidiary covering KRW stablecoin distribution and cross-border payments, and agreed a stablecoin payment PoC with KB Kookmin Card for foreign visitors paying at Korean merchants. NICE Information, DSRV and SBI DigiTrust signed an MOU to test Korea–Japan stablecoin QR payments at NICE merchants. Kyobo Life hosted a stablecoin and RWA cooperation session with SBI Holdings, Circle and BDACS.
On won-stablecoin pilots: KakaoPay completed a stablecoin pilot inside its 43-million-user wallet. KB Kookmin Card completed a stablecoin payment test at CU convenience stores. Shinhan Card completed six PoCs with Visa, Mastercard, Fireblocks and Solana. Naver Financial has an internal stablecoin task force; Toss is planning a distribution-focused consortium. The STO regime takes effect February 4, 2027, covering stocks, bonds and funds. While the law is stuck, incumbents are building issuance, payment and tokenization rails so they are ready from day one.
Presidential policy chief appointed October 1 — DABA blocker removed. National Assembly study backs bank-first stablecoin issuance. KIF recommends classifying DeFi providers as unlicensed VASPs.
President Lee appointed Ha Jun-kyung as presidential policy chief on October 1, ending the month-long vacancy that had stalled the government's Digital Asset Basic Act draft. Rep. Min Byoung-dug pledged to push the Act through in 2026 without waiting for the government bill, with a hearing and subcommittee immediately after the October audit. The FSC's own material submitted to lawmakers rated its phase-two legislation "somewhat inadequate" and its stablecoin framework "inadequate." A proposal also emerged to separate the exchange ownership cap from the Basic Act entirely.
A National Assembly research report submitted September 30 proposed a phased approach to stablecoin issuance: banks first, non-banks later. Non-bank issuers would need ₩50B in capital, 100% reserves, and redemption within T+2. Holders would rank ahead of general creditors in an issuer bankruptcy. US voices at KBW — including former White House official Harry Jung and a16z's Miles Jennings — argued against bank-only issuance, warning that dollar stablecoins will arrive first if the market stays closed to non-banks.
The Korea Institute of Finance submitted a commissioned report to the FSC recommending that DeFi and OTC support providers with unclear jurisdiction be classified as unlicensed VASPs, with Korean users' access restricted. It also recommended applying AML obligations to platforms that support personal-wallet transfers, and allowing limited conditional order-book sharing between exchanges. Community reaction was hostile, with commentators framing the recommendations as further bank-driven market restriction. The National Assembly audit runs October 6–22, with FSC and FSS hearings on October 8 and 19 respectively.
Deferral pressure now spans both parties, DAXA, and polling. PPP floor leader takes the case to the Deputy PM in person. Government holds January 1, 2027.
The tax fight continued to widen. Han Dong-hoon (independent, former PPP leader) called for an immediate deferral of at least two years on September 29, citing that CARF data exchange with key offshore jurisdictions does not start until 2028–2029, meaning offshore activity stays invisible to the tax office. On September 30, PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik personally told Deputy PM Lee Hyung-il the tax should be deferred or abolished, citing capital flight to Hong Kong and Singapore. DAXA, the exchanges' self-regulatory body, called for a full re-examination on October 2, saying the current design "turns investors into tax evaders."
A Tiger Research survey of 2,423 Korean investors found 73.7% oppose the tax as planned, 82.9% oppose the current plan or want another delay, and 73.5% consider the 22% rate excessive. The government has not moved. The October audit and the November tax subcommittee are the next decision points.
FIU H1 2026: exchange market value -33%, volume -44%, operating profit -78%. Kimchi premium recovers to flat. BTC closes September +6.33%.
The Financial Intelligence Unit's H1 2026 virtual-asset business survey put hard numbers to the downturn. Korean crypto market value stood at ₩58.9T at end-June, down ₩28.3T (33%) from end-2025. Total H1 trading volume was ₩555T, down 44% from ₩1,001T in H2 2025. Exchange combined revenue fell 41% to ₩576.8B; operating profit collapsed 78% to ₩81.6B. KRW deposits at exchanges fell 35% to ₩5.2T. ₩51.7T left for overseas platforms and personal wallets over the half-year.
This week: BTC traded in an $83K–$87K range, closing October 5 at $86,592, up 2.08% on the week. September closed at +6.33%. The kimchi premium returned to roughly flat from last week's discount — Upbit and Bithumb readings at approximately +0.24% to +0.39% by October 5, against last week's -0.33% to -0.53%. Five-exchange weekly volume (September 25 – October 2) was approximately ₩20.5T, down 19.6% week-on-week. Upbit held 64% market share; Bithumb 26.7%; Coinone 6.6%. KOSPI recovered to 6,971 on October 1, up 1.95% from September 28.
Major bank data breaches trigger FSC emergency meeting. API trader indicted for market manipulation. ₩26.3B in voice-phishing proceeds returned.
Shinhan Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, Hana Bank and BNK Busan Bank all disclosed data breaches this week. Across seven financial firms, approximately 66,000 individuals' records and 2,200 corporate records were exposed. The FSC and FSS chiefs called an emergency meeting on October 4 with the CEOs of breached firms, ordering a full review of externally exposed systems — with the inspection reported to extend to crypto exchanges.
On enforcement: an API trader was indicted and detained for manipulating 11 crypto assets for approximately ₩700M in illicit gains. ₩26.3B of voice-phishing proceeds previously frozen at exchanges was returned to roughly 1,100 victims. Rep. Park Min-gyu and 10 co-sponsors proposed allowing the FIU to impose 7-day freezes on crypto addresses tied to serious crime. CP Labs (formerly Coinplug) lost its lawsuit against the FSC over unreturned user assets.
| Token | Exchange | Date |
|---|---|---|
| US Talus |
 KRW
|
Oct 2 15:00 KST |
| POD Dolphin |
 KRW, BTC, USDT
|
Oct 2 16:00 KST |
Light listing week — attention was on KBW and the regulatory calendar. POD launched with approximately 0.6M liquid tokens at listing, generating thin float and sharp initial volatility. BLAST was designated a caution item on Oct 3 following Blast L2's shutdown announcement. SAND's caution designation was lifted Oct 2.
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