| KOREA SIGNAL | by Holo Hive |
BoK governor confirms bank-led 50%+1 won stablecoin. FSC: DABA draft "all prepared," targeting November subcommittee. Lawmakers: ₩80T in dollar stablecoin trading already.
Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song gave the clearest official answer yet on stablecoin issuance at the October 12 National Assembly audit: won stablecoins will start "as agreed, with a bank-led consortium — banks have 50% plus one share." He described this as the government plan, agreed with the government. He confirmed the Bank of Korea will be involved from the start, acknowledged that bank-led issuance does not eliminate FX, capital-outflow or bank-run risks, and stated that stablecoins are "right for private companies to do" — with Project Hangang (deposit tokens plus wholesale CBDC) remaining a separate track.
FSC Chair Lee Eok-won, at the October 8 Political Affairs Committee audit, said the Digital Asset Basic Act content is "all prepared" and in final-stage consultations, with the government draft targeting submission before the November bill subcommittee. Ten digital-asset and stablecoin bills are already pending in the Assembly. He confirmed the exchange ownership cap — reported at 15–20% — was not driven by presidential-office instruction, framing it as a matching accountability requirement as exchanges move from registration to full licensing. A best-execution duty in a review draft also emerged as a potential market-structure change: it would require routing orders to the best-priced exchange and could shift volume among the five KRW exchanges.
DP Rep. Lee Kang-il disclosed live market data at the FSC audit: dollar stablecoin trading in Korea topped ₩6T in June alone and ₩80T cumulatively through July. Korea accounts for 54% of all trading in yen stablecoins listed domestically. A Cayman Islands company has already issued a won stablecoin and is working with Korean firms on app payments and game settlement. He also tallied ₩63T of digital-asset funds leaving Korea through September. The Ministry of Economy and Finance pre-announced an amendment to the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act Enforcement Decree: transfers to foreign exchanges or personal wallets will be reported to the Bank of Korea's FX network from December, with comments closing October 26. The Korea Communications Standards Commission ordered 27 unregistered offshore exchange websites blocked on October 13.
Deputy PM softens his tone. A derivatives loophole becomes the week's sharpest argument. Street protests begin.
On October 6, Deputy PM Lee Hyung-il shifted his public framing. Asked whether the 2027 crypto tax will start on schedule, he said he would "broadly gather opinions from the National Assembly, experts and industry" — noticeably different from the "as scheduled" language he used at his September confirmation hearing. He also said he would "listen to various opinions" on loss carry-forward provisions, and backed keeping the ₩2.5M annual deduction. The ruling party's tax hawks held their line: DP Rep. Oh Gi-hyoung argued the tax should proceed after three postponements.
The week's most-discussed new angle was a derivatives loophole: gains from offshore crypto perpetuals and options cannot be taxed under current Korean law, because the law lists taxable items explicitly and does not define these products. The finance ministry and FSC each said the other is responsible for closing the gap. The community framing — "spot taxed, futures untaxed" — made it the most-viewed tax post of the week, with the implication that Korean exchanges become deposit-and-withdrawal rails while active trading moves offshore.
Street protests began October 12–23: retail organisers launched truck protests and one-person protests at the National Assembly, both party headquarters, Seoul Station and the Government Complex. A #코인과세유예 ("defer the crypto tax") campaign offers ₩10M in vouchers through December 23. The national petition has passed 50,000 signatures, with 500–600 investors funding the campaign. On October 13 — just after the week's window — the NTS commissioner confirmed a tax notice will come in November and that the NTS is creating a dedicated division. The October 22 final audit session is the next formal checkpoint.
BTC -3.3% on the week, low $80.3K on Oct 8. Kimchi premium back to +1%. Domestic volume down 17.7%. Upbit's market share falls two consecutive weeks.
BTC fell 3.27% on the week, opening at $86,507, hitting a low of $80,329 on October 8 after hawkish Fed minutes, and closing at $83,676. ETH fell 7.0% and SOL 8.5%. US spot BTC ETFs saw approximately $679M in net outflows on the week; ETH ETFs posted around 10 consecutive days of outflows. Fear and Greed held in greed territory, easing from 70 to 61.
Korea-specific: the kimchi premium returned to positive. The four-exchange average on October 12 showed BTC at +1.00%, ETH +0.96%, USDT +0.97% (USDT ₩1,348). Five-exchange weekly volume (October 1–8) was approximately ₩17.4T, down 17.7% week-on-week. Upbit's share fell to 61.34% — down 3.45 percentage points — its second consecutive weekly decline, with Coinone gaining 2.59 percentage points to 8.57%. Upbit's daily volume fell to ₩1.25T on October 10 (−34.8% day-on-day), with newly listed KAIA the top-traded asset ahead of BTC. KOSPI closed October 12 at 6,438.99 (−2.82%); on October 13 it fell a further 5.46% and triggered a sell sidecar.
Korea's first BTC-backed bank loan. LG CNS launches tokenization platform. Meritz × Ripple. Naver–Dunamu merger delayed to March 2027.
Jeonbuk Bank (JB Financial Group) launched Korea's first won loan backed by BTC collateral — for corporate working capital only, with collateral held by a qualified custodian. On default, recovery runs through court auction under the revised civil-enforcement rules effective October 1. Hana Bank became the first Korean commercial bank to join Euroclear's D-FMI DLT bond platform.
LG CNS launched "Gitl" (기틀), a digital-asset platform for banks, brokers and card companies. Partners include Circle, Chainlink, Securitize (covering fund and bond tokenization timed to the February 4, 2027 STO law) and the Canton Foundation. Meritz Securities announced a custody and tokenization partnership with Ripple (signed October 1, disclosed October 7); Meritz is also reviewing a spot crypto ETF, token securities and won stablecoins.
On stablecoin payments: Toss and Gwangju Bank completed an in-store stablecoin QR payment proof-of-concept. Samsung Wallet is adding USDC for approximately 82 million US Galaxy devices from late October, with Solana and Sui integrations — cited by Korean lawmakers as a reason Korean firms need a won-stablecoin path. On the Naver–Dunamu merger: Naver disclosed a third delay on October 7. Shareholder meetings move from November 19 to February 26, 2027, and the closing from December 31 to March 31, 2027, as the competition regulator's review and FSC/FIU approvals remain pending.
Upbit adds 5 KRW markets, Bithumb adds 8. Kaia lists on Upbit for the first time. PONS lists same day as Coinbase.
The listing pace accelerated sharply. Kaia (KAIA) — the chain formed from Kakao's Klaytn, which Upbit had long avoided — listed on Upbit on October 9 and became its top-traded asset the next day. Bithumb responded immediately with zero-fee KAIA trading and a trading-volume prize event. PONS listed on both Upbit and Bithumb on October 8, the same day it went live on Coinbase spot. NMR (Numeraire) opened on Upbit at approximately +23.5% over offshore prices, illustrating the listing premium that KRW access can generate in the current environment.
| Token | Exchange | Date |
|---|---|---|
| BR Bedrock |
 KRW
|
Oct 6 19:00 KST |
| POD Dolphin |
KRW
|
Oct 6 20:00 KST |
| NMR Numeraire |
 KRW, USDT
|
Oct 6 20:45 KST |
| PONS |
KRW, BTC, USDT
KRW
|
Oct 8 |
| AIA DeAgentAI |
KRW
|
Oct 8 14:00 KST |
| CASHCAT Cash Cat |
KRW
|
Oct 8 15:00 KST |
| KAIA |
KRW, BTC, USDT
|
Oct 9 18:30 KST |
| XDP Doppler Finance |
KRW
|
Oct 9 21:00 KST |
| ZEST Zest Protocol |
KRW
|
Oct 12 14:00 KST |
| RSR Reserve Rights |
KRW, USDT
|
Oct 12 14:05 KST |
| KGEN KGeN |
KRW
|
Oct 12 19:30 KST |
| GTC Gitcoin |
KRW, USDT
|
Oct 12 19:30 KST |
KAIA's Upbit listing is its first on the exchange — becoming the top-traded asset the following day. PONS listed on Upbit and Bithumb on the same day as Coinbase. NMR opened approximately 23.5% above offshore prices.
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