South Korea Unlocks Corporate Crypto Access for 3,500 Companies
The Financial Services Commission (FSC) in South Korea has advanced its three-part digital-finance program, granting corporate access to cryptocurrencies for about 3,500 companies.
As part of this initiative, listed companies and professional investors are eligible to open real-name bank accounts linked to crypto exchanges. However, financial companies were excluded from the group, and access is designed as a controlled pilot rather than unrestricted participation.
This move aims to address the long-standing issue in Korea where corporate money has been kept out of the market due to lack of real-name bank accounts. The FSC first opened limited account access to nonprofit organizations, universities, law-enforcement agencies, and crypto exchanges.
The National Assembly passed amendments to the Electronic Securities Act and Capital Markets Act on January 15, 2026, which will take effect in February 2027. This will bring tokenized securities into the regulated market, allowing issuers to follow registration procedures involving the Korea Securities Depository.
Project Hangang Phase II has expanded deposit-token testing from seven banks to nine, supporting government payments, AI-agent transactions, and tokenized-asset settlement.