On July 15, members of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party sitting on the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee publicly argued that the country needs to swiftly enact a Digital Asset Basic Act (디지털자산기본법) to institutionalize a won-based stablecoin. Speaking at a seminar in Seoul’s Mapo District titled “The U.S. Digital Asset Hegemony Strategy and Korea’s Response” — co-hosted by a joint council of digital asset exchanges and the policy think tank MRI — lawmakers Min Byung-deok (민병덕) and Park Min-kyu (박민규) stated that since the United States already treats digital assets as a national strategy for extending the dollar’s influence, South Korea must urgently build a won-based digital asset system to safeguard its monetary sovereignty and market leadership. According to Tokenpost, the two lawmakers, along with People Power Party lawmaker Kang Min-guk, traveled last month to the White House and U.S. Congress for research meetings.
Editorial take: the practical impact on Korean USDT card users
The bottom line first: this is a legislative-direction signal, not a rule that takes effect immediately. South Korea currently has no formal law governing stablecoin issuance and circulation. What happened here is ruling-party lawmakers voicing support for legislation at a seminar — there’s still considerable distance before actual statutory text is drafted and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) issues implementing rules.
For Korean users holding USDT virtual cards, it’s worth separating two distinct impact paths:
- The card itself (issued offshore): USDT Visa/Mastercard products issued by offshore entities — such as the Asia Elite variant of MPCard, Bybit Card, and RedotPay — are not directly bound by a domestic Korean stablecoin law in the short term. Whatever card you’re holding, you can keep using it as before.
- Local on/off-ramp channels: The segment that would actually feel changes first is the “won ↔ USDT” conversion step. If the Digital Asset Basic Act opens a legal channel for a won stablecoin while simultaneously imposing stricter conversion or reporting requirements on foreign-currency stablecoins (USDT/USDC), the cost and friction of Korean users buying USDT with won and topping up their cards could rise.
Expected timeline:
- Within 7 days: No change at all. This is just lawmakers stating a position.
- Within 30 days: Watch whether a bill is formally submitted to the National Assembly and whether the FSC follows up with any signals.
- Within 90 days: If the legislation moves into substantive deliberation, exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, etc.) may adjust USDT-related deposit/withdrawal policies ahead of time — that’s the real signal card users should be watching.
Historical comparison: how does this compare with MiCAR and Hong Kong’s stablecoin ordinance
This news makes more sense placed on the global stablecoin legislation timeline.
Similarities — the “prioritize the domestic-currency stablecoin, restrict foreign-currency stablecoins” approach is close to a common template across jurisdictions. After MiCAR took effect in the EU in 2024, it imposed daily transaction volume caps and issuance review requirements on “significant stablecoins” not denominated in euros (such as USDT) — this was the direct reason Tether was temporarily delisted from some EU exchanges at the time. Hong Kong’s stablecoin issuer ordinance, advanced in 2024–2025, is likewise centered on a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin. South Korea’s move here follows essentially the same “monetary sovereignty” narrative.
Differences — both the EU and Hong Kong have completed, or nearly completed, their legislation, with reasonably clear rule boundaries. South Korea, by contrast, is still at the ruling-party advocacy stage — the statutory text, transition period, and specific treatment of foreign-currency stablecoins remain blank. In other words, MiCAR is a “known outcome,” while South Korea is a case of “known direction, unknown details.” This distinction is why you don’t need to take any depeg-style emergency action for Korean users right now — the kind of immediate risk seen during USDC’s brief depegging in 2023 is an entirely different matter from a piece of legislative-direction news.
Compliance boundaries: gray zone or prohibited zone right now
For Korean USDT card users, the current legal status can be summarized as follows:
- Clearly permitted: individuals holding and using USDT, and buying/selling USDT through compliant exchanges.
- Gray zone: the tax and reporting treatment of local spending using offshore-issued USDT cards is not yet covered by any dedicated statute — filling this gap is exactly what this legislation aims to do.
- Not yet prohibited: there is currently no provision banning the use of offshore USDT virtual cards.
We don’t yet have a Korea-specific compliance page, but the regulatory thinking is highly comparable to that of neighboring jurisdictions. Readers who want to get ahead of how a “domestic-currency-first” law might affect foreign-currency stablecoin cards can reference our Japan compliance guide and Hong Kong compliance guide — the frameworks in these two jurisdictions are likely to be important reference points for Korea’s legislation.
Key milestones worth watching next
- Whether the bill is formally submitted to the National Assembly: lawmakers stating a position is not the same as legislation. Watch whether the Digital Asset Basic Act draft enters formal review by the Political Affairs Committee.
- Official signals from the FSC: rely on releases from the FSC’s official website — any detailed rules on foreign-currency stablecoin conversion or reporting are worth checking immediately.
- Major exchanges’ USDT policies: if Upbit or Bithumb adjust USDT deposit/withdrawal limits or add new reporting requirements, that’s the earliest observable signal.
- KRW stablecoin pilot entities: whether specific banks or licensed institutions are designated to issue a KRW stablecoin — this will determine what a “legal domestic-currency channel” ultimately looks like.
Editorial recommendations
- Korean users who already hold offshore USDT cards (MPCard, Bybit Card, RedotPay, etc.): no action is needed. Your card is not affected by this legislative-direction news — keep using it normally.
- Users planning to apply for a new card: no need to hold off. If you’re concerned about long-term local funding costs, you may want to prioritize solutions that rely on offshore channels rather than local won conversion — for a detailed comparison, see Best USDT cards for Korea.
- Users who rely heavily on “buying USDT with won” for top-ups: add the four monitoring points above to your watchlist. The moment that truly calls for action is when exchange deposit/withdrawal policies actually change — not right now.
In one line: this is a direction, not an endpoint. Before the legislation is finalized, the most rational move for Korean USDT card users is to watch, not react.