South Korea Unleashes Corporate Crypto Investment - With a Cautious 5% Cap
Seoul flips the switch. After years of corporate crypto prohibition, South Korea's financial gatekeepers have cracked the door open. But they're keeping a firm hand on the knob.
The New Rules of the Game
Forget free rein. The policy shift comes with a critical leash: companies can now allocate funds to digital assets, but exposure is strictly capped. We're talking a maximum of 5% of a firm's total holdings. It's a tentative toe-dip, not a cannonball into the crypto pool. Regulators are clearly betting that limiting the size of the bet will limit the size of any potential disaster.
Why the Sudden Shift?
Pressure was building. Global competitors weren't waiting, and domestic tech giants were itching to diversify treasuries beyond traditional bonds and equities. The 5% figure isn't arbitrary—it's a calculated risk threshold designed to let innovation breathe without letting recklessness run wild. It signals a recognition that blockchain assets are a permanent, if volatile, fixture on the financial landscape.
The Ripple Effect
This isn't just a policy update; it's a signal flare. Expect liquidity to trickle, then flow, into major tokens and regulated custody solutions. Korean exchanges are already prepping for institutional-grade services. The move legitimizes crypto as a corporate asset class, potentially triggering a domino effect across other cautious Asian markets. Of course, the traditional finance crowd will scoff—calling it a 'speculative allowance' while quietly updating their own internal memos.
A bullish step, shackled by prudent fear. South Korea has handed corporations a key to the crypto vault, but made sure the key only opens a very small safe inside. It’s the financial equivalent of letting a teenager borrow the car, but only to drive to the end of the block and back. Progress, yes. A wild, unshackled embrace? Not even close. The era of corporate crypto is here—on a very short leash.
South Korea Sets Crypto Corporate Investing Limit At 5%
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has drafted guidelines to allow listed companies and professional investors to trade crypto, according to a report from South Korean media outlet BusinessKorea. The FSC shared the draft with a public-private task force on January 6th, and according to a high-ranking financial industry official, authorities are expected to release the final guidelines between January and February.
Since 2017, corporate and institutional players in South Korea have been under an effective prohibition from trading and investing in digital assets like Bitcoin, with the government citing speculation and money-laundering risks. The country’s stance began to shift in February 2025, when the FSC announced a plan to gradually allow institutional participation in the space. The latest guidelines are a follow-up to this announcement.
South Korea easing up on corporate crypto investments hasn’t come without restrictions, however. Authorities have reportedly set an investment cap of 5% of equity capital, which companies can only deploy into coins inside the top 20 by market cap list. These assets will be determined based on the semi-annual market cap data sourced from the top five domestic digital asset exchanges.
Stablecoins tied to the US Dollar, like USDT and USDC, currently fall inside the top 20 list, but whether they will be included as permitted investment targets is still being discussed.
While South Korea is planning on a 5% investment cap, other countries like the US or Japan have no such limits on corporate investing. One financial industry insider has raised concerns about the restriction, saying that “investment limit restrictions not found overseas could weaken capital inflow factors and prevent the emergence of virtual currency investment specialist companies.”
South Korea has also made other developments related to the crypto industry recently. The East Asian nation is planning to introduce digital asset spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) this year, looking to investment vehicles active in the US and Hong Kong as reference points.
The FSC is also working on the next phase of its digital asset legislation, which could see the establishment of a regulatory framework for stablecoins. As reported by Bitcoinist, the bill has so far been delayed due to a dispute between the FSC and the Bank of Korea (BoK).
The BoK, South Korea’s central bank, has been pushing for banks to own at least a 51% stake in any stablecoin issuer seeking approval in the country. While the FSC agrees that financial institutions should be involved in the issuance of won stablecoins, the regulator has raised concerns that a bank majority requirement could limit market participation and innovation.
Bitcoin Price
At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading around $90,600, down 2.5% over the past week.
