Korean Financial Services Commission Plans to Regulate Digital Asset Custody as an Independent Business

Odaily Odaily Planet Daily News: The Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) stated that it will promptly submit the second-phase legislative government bill for the "Digital Asset Basic Act," coordinate the release timeline of corporate crypto asset transaction guidelines with the legislative process, and simultaneously propose to regulate digital asset custody as an independent business. The FSC also adopts a cautious stance towards mandating exchanges to spin off their custody businesses. Furthermore, South Korea will reference the EU's approach to provide a more convenient access mechanism for traditional financial institutions applying for Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licenses. Regarding the market-concerned issue of separating exchange custody businesses, the Korean FSC noted that there are currently few cases of forced separation overseas, and it prefers to prevent conflicts of interest by improving conduct supervision rather than requiring exchanges to operate custody businesses independently.