South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) is reportedly preparing to consolidate fragmented crypto rules into a single, government-backed legislative package in coordination with the ruling Democratic Party, according to an Edaily report published Wednesday. The move comes after months of delays and renewed uncertainty over how stablecoins and the broader digital-asset market will be regulated under the country’s next phase of crypto legislation.

Separately, lawmakers are also set to consider an opposition proposal to repeal the planned crypto income tax before it takes effect in 2027—an effort that could become another flashpoint in South Korea’s evolving policy debate around digital assets.

Key takeaways

• The FSC reportedly plans to work with the ruling Democratic Party on a consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act covering stablecoins and wider market conduct.
• South Korea currently has multiple separate bills pending in Parliament, but unresolved disagreements have delayed progress on its second-stage crypto framework.
• Major outstanding disputes include whether won-denominated stablecoin issuers must be majority bank-owned and whether limits should apply to ownership of major crypto exchanges.
• An opposition bill aims to abolish South Korea’s planned crypto income tax prior to its Jan. 1, 2027 start, and is expected to move to committee review.

A consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act enters the policy lane

According to Edaily, the FSC told the National Assembly ahead of a policy briefing that it intends to introduce a single consolidated bill rather than continue advancing a patchwork of proposals. The rationale, as implied by the report, is to create one central framework that lawmakers can negotiate against—potentially reducing the gridlock created by overlapping and separate draft measures.

The proposed framework would reportedly address a broad set of issues that have become common regulatory themes in South Korea’s digital-asset discussions. Edaily reports that the consolidation would cover stablecoin issuance and circulation, rules for digital-asset businesses, exchange entry requirements, disclosure obligations, internal controls, and system-resilience standards.

At present, 10 separate digital asset and stablecoin bills are already pending in Parliament. The same Edaily reporting indicates disagreements have blocked progress on crucial components of South Korea’s second-stage crypto legislation—leaving stakeholders without a clear, unified rulebook.

Disputes that could determine the shape of stablecoin regulation

While the FSC has not finalized timing or the exact form of how the consolidated bill will be introduced, Edaily points to specific disagreements that remain unresolved. Two issues stand out as likely to shape the final outcome.

First, the debate over whether won-denominated stablecoin issuers should be majority owned by banks remains unsettled. That question has direct implications for how stablecoin risk and reserve oversight would be structured, and whether issuance would effectively be channeled through institutions already embedded in South Korea’s financial system.

Second, lawmakers are also divided on whether ownership limits should apply to major crypto exchanges. That dispute matters for market concentration and conflicts of interest—particularly if exchange-linked entities can influence the stablecoin ecosystem or market access rules.

Because these decisions are described as unresolved, the consolidated approach may not immediately resolve uncertainty for market participants. Instead, it could shift negotiations from parallel bills into a single legislative vehicle—making the eventual compromises more visible, but not necessarily faster.

Opposition seeks to scrap the crypto income tax before it starts

While stablecoin and exchange regulation appears to be moving toward consolidation, South Korea’s tax policy is also entering a new round of legislative scrutiny. Separately, Edaily reported that the National Assembly’s Finance and Economic Planning Committee was scheduled to table an opposition bill on Wednesday aimed at abolishing South Korea’s crypto income tax before its planned Jan. 1, 2027 implementation.

The Income Tax Act amendment was introduced on March 19 by People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seok, according to earlier coverage from Cointelegraph. The proposal seeks to delete a provision that would tax income derived from transferring or lending digital assets. After being tabled, Edaily reports that the bill is expected to be sent to the committee’s tax subcommittee for detailed consideration.

In parallel, a separate repeal petition backed by more than 50,000 people is expected to go before a petitions subcommittee, though Edaily notes that neither subcommittee has been fully constituted and no review dates have been set.

What the tax schedule says—and why the repeal fight matters

The planned taxation framework starts on Jan. 1, 2027. As described in the source reporting, income from transferring or lending crypto exceeding 2.5 million won (about $1,700) annually is set to face a 20% income tax plus a 2% local income tax.

Support for implementing the tax has been attributed to the government and the ruling Democratic Party, while the opposition’s position is that taxing crypto income while most ordinary stock investors remain exempt is unfair. In May, the Finance Ministry indicated the tax would proceed after repeated delays, as noted in Cointelegraph coverage, underscoring that the issue is not simply theoretical—it is tied to a concrete start date.

From an investor and market-structure standpoint, the repeal effort is significant because tax rules can influence participation patterns, custody and lending behavior, and how users route activity between exchanges and other venues. It can also affect how issuers and intermediaries plan compliance and reporting, especially when rules are introduced in advance of a hard start date.

What to watch next in South Korea’s crypto policy churn

For now, the most immediate developments are legislative: whether the FSC’s consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act framework moves from briefing to formal proposal, and how the opposition’s tax repeal bill progresses through the committee process. Readers should watch how the unresolved stablecoin disputes—bank-ownership requirements for won-denominated issuers and any exchange ownership limits—are ultimately translated into a single bill, while also tracking whether the crypto tax debate stays on course for 2027 or gains enough momentum to change its trajectory.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission told the National Assembly ahead of a July 29 policy briefing that it plans to prepare a consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act with the ruling Democratic Party. 

The proposed framework would cover stablecoins, exchanges, disclosures, internal controls and system resilience.

Separately, the National Assembly’s Finance and Economic Planning Committee was scheduled to table an opposition amendment seeking to remove the crypto income tax before its Jan. 1, 2027 start date. Neither proposal has changed current law.

South Korea stablecoin bill would unify 10 proposals

The FSC’s planned bill would establish rules for stablecoin issuance and circulation, define digital asset businesses and regulate their conduct. It would also set exchange entry standards, disclosure requirements and controls intended to protect users and maintain reliable trading systems.

Ten digital asset and stablecoin bills are already pending in the National Assembly. The FSC now plans to coordinate a single government-ruling party proposal that could serve as the main text for negotiations. Chairman Lee Eog-weon previously told the government that digital asset legislation should be completed during 2026, including stronger anti-money-laundering rules for stablecoins.

The plan follows South Korea’s broader effort to create a full digital asset framework. The current Virtual Asset User Protection Act mainly addresses custody, unfair trading and user safeguards. The proposed second-stage law would regulate issuers, service providers and market structure more broadly.

Issuer ownership and exchange limits remain unresolved

The FSC has not completed the bill’s wording or announced a filing date. One central dispute is whether issuers of won-backed stablecoins must be controlled by bank-led consortiums holding at least 50% plus one share. The regulator has repeatedly said that issuer ownership rules have not been finalised.

The Bank of Korea supports giving banks a leading role, arguing that stablecoins could affect monetary and financial stability. In related coverage, crypto.news reported that the central bank also favours a statutory body involving several authorities. Industry participants and some lawmakers support allowing qualified non-bank issuers under licensing and reserve requirements.

Lawmakers must also decide whether ownership caps should apply to major exchanges. The FSC’s Virtual Asset Committee discussed bank-led issuance, ownership dispersion, exchange internal controls, computer-security standards and no-fault compensation in March, but the regulator did not settle those provisions.

Opposition moves to repeal the 22% crypto tax

People Power Party lawmaker Song Eon-seok introduced bill number 2217609 on March 19. It would delete the Income Tax Act provision covering income from transferring or lending digital assets. As crypto.news previously reported, the opposition argues that taxing ordinary crypto investors while most retail stock gains remain exempt is unfair.

Under current law, annual crypto income above 2.5 million won will face a 20% national tax and a 2% local income tax from Jan. 1, 2027. The tax has already been postponed three times since its original 2022 start date.

The government and ruling party support implementation. Tax officials have said the National Tax Service is preparing guidance and has established a dedicated digital asset unit. A separate repeal petition supported by more than 50,000 people is also awaiting committee review.

What happens next for both proposals?

The FSC must complete consultations with the ruling party and other authorities before submitting its consolidated bill. The 10 existing proposals would then be reviewed alongside the new text, with unresolved stablecoin ownership and exchange-shareholding rules likely to shape negotiations.

The tax repeal amendment is expected to move to the Finance and Economic Planning Committee’s tax subcommittee. The public petition would go to a separate petitions subcommittee. Neither panel had been fully constituted when the July 29 meeting was announced, and no review dates were available.

Unless lawmakers approve a repeal or another delay, the 22% tax will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. No verified crypto-market price movement has been directly linked to the two legislative developments.

Ionic Digital shares rose 25.8% from their opening price during the company’s Nasdaq debut on July 28, closing at $62.90 after beginning public trading at $50. 

The closing price gave the Celsius-linked Bitcoin miner and AI infrastructure operator an equity value of approximately $2.83 billion.

The calculation is based on 44,921,427 Class A shares outstanding after the conversion of Ionic’s Series A preferred stock. It does not include potential dilution from warrants, restricted stock units or future issuances. 

Yahoo Finance showed the shares falling to $58.80 after hours, 6.5% below their regular-session close. Ionic has not issued a company statement about the first-day price move.

Ionic Digital rebounded from its $50 opening price

Nasdaq officially opened IOND at 11:58:52 a.m. Eastern Time through a cross involving 149,252 shares. The $50 opening price was 5.7% below Nasdaq’s $53 reference price, but the shares reversed course later in the session and finished 18.7% above that reference level.

Crypto security losses reached $1.1 billion across 212 verified incidents during the first half of 2026, according to an H1 report published by Blockaid on July 28. 

Blockaid described the six-month incident count as a record and said it verified more exploits during H1 than throughout 2025.

Cperational security attacks caused 74% of the stolen value, while one cluster associated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea accounted for 55%. Blockaid also said the incident count was 3.4 times its 2025 total, though security companies use different definitions and coverage methods when compiling industry loss estimates.

Blockaid says operational failures drove crypto security losses

Blockaid’s figures point to a shift away from attacks that depend only on faulty smart-contract code. Compromised devices, privileged credentials, private keys, signing systems and off-chain infrastructure produced most of the measured losses. These attacks can generate valid-looking blockchain transactions because authorised credentials approve them.

That pattern reduces the protection offered by code audits alone. Audits can identify contract flaws, but they cannot stop a compromised administrator from signing a malicious transaction or prevent a bridge verifier from relying on poisoned infrastructure. Blockaid said new attack vectors emerged during H1 and warned that some could expand during the second half.

Ethereum and Solana suffered different attack patterns

Ethereum-related projects lost about $332 million, according to Blockaid’s report, with code vulnerabilities responsible for much of that total. The largest Ethereum-linked case was KelpDAO, where attackers released 116,500 rsETH worth roughly $292 million from a bridge contract after falsifying a source-chain message.

Solana-related projects lost about $326 million. More than 98% came from compromised keys and signing infrastructure rather than smart-contract bugs, Blockaid found. Drift Protocol and Step Finance accounted for most of that amount, while smaller code-related incidents affected projects including Raydium and Volo.

The network comparison does not establish that one blockchain is inherently safer. Instead, it reflects which applications were attacked and how their teams managed privileged access. A single large incident can also dominate a six-month network total.

KelpDAO and Drift dominated H1 theft

Chainalysis linked the April 18 KelpDAO attack to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Its investigation found that attackers compromised internal RPC nodes and disrupted external nodes, causing a single-verifier system to accept a false burn event. The Ethereum-side bridge then released rsETH even though no corresponding tokens had been destroyed on the source chain.

As crypto.news reported, KelpDAO completed the operational phase of its recovery plan on May 25 after transferring a final 20,373.72 rsETH tranche into its bridge adapter. Minting, redemptions and rewards resumed, although litigation and disputed claims involving frozen funds remained unresolved.

Drift suffered a separate privileged-access attack on April 1. Chainalysis said attackers used months of social engineering and pre-signed durable-nonce transactions to gain administrative control. Drift’s April 16 recovery update valued stolen assets at $295.7 million, above the roughly $285 million early estimate used by Blockaid and several investigators.

In related coverage, crypto.news reported that Step Finance shut down after attackers compromised executive devices and drained up to $40 million from treasury-controlled assets. The company recovered about $4.7 million but said financing and acquisition talks did not produce a sustainable path forward.

Recovery continues while stolen funds remain active

Drift proposed a recovery pool supported by exchange revenue, Tether and other partners. Its plan included up to $127.5 million of proposed support from Tether, $20 million from other partners and a separate transferable recovery token. The protocol said its restart would require audits by OtterSec and Asymmetric, dedicated signing devices, timelocks and a redesigned multisig.

The theft remains an active on-chain case. As previously reported, a wallet tied to the Drift exploiter moved 23,095.1 Ether, worth about $44.4 million, into Tornado Cash between July 23 and July 24 after roughly three months of inactivity.

Blockaid expects teams to focus more heavily on transaction-intent checks, isolated signing devices, key segregation and monitoring across bridges and infrastructure. Those measures are company recommendations, not guarantees.

The next verified updates will come from Drift’s recovery-token terms and relaunch schedule, Step Finance’s remaining claims process, court proceedings tied to frozen KelpDAO funds and any asset seizures announced by law-enforcement agencies.

South Korean police have searched the home of former Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and city offices as part of an investigation into allegations that cryptocurrency assets were omitted from his local election financial disclosure.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, investigators from the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency’s Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit carried out search and seizure operations on Sunday at Yoo’s residence and the General Affairs Division of Incheon City Hall, where they collected evidence including mobile phones and computers as part of an investigation into alleged violations of the Public Official Election Act.

The investigation centers on claims that Yoo and his wife intentionally failed to report approximately 21,000 cryptocurrency tokens after transferring the holdings to an overseas exchange before submitting mandatory asset disclosures during South Korea’s June 3 local elections.

Police have already questioned Yoo, his wife, identified only by her surname Choi, along with individuals connected to complainant Park Chan-dae’s campaign, Yonhap reported. The newly executed searches are part of efforts to secure additional evidence as investigators continue examining whether the reported assets should have been included in the election filings.

Police expand probe into crypto disclosure allegations

According to Yonhap, the allegations first surfaced roughly 10 days before election day, when Park Chan-dae’s campaign committee filed a criminal complaint accusing Yoo and his wife of deliberately leaving the cryptocurrency holdings out of their legally required property declaration.

The report said the Incheon City Election Commission later conducted its own review and separately referred the case to police after determining there were possible violations of election law.

Further scrutiny followed on June 2, the day before voters went to the polls, when the election commission issued a correction notice stating that the total assets listed in Yoo’s campaign materials were about 78 million Korean won lower than his actual assets, according to Yonhap. Authorities are now investigating whether the difference resulted from the omitted cryptocurrency holdings and whether the omission was intentional.

South Korea requires candidates in public elections to disclose their assets, and inaccurate or incomplete declarations can lead to criminal investigations under the Public Official Election Act if authorities determine the information was knowingly withheld.

Election authorities have already flagged reporting differences

While investigators have not publicly disclosed which cryptocurrency was involved, the reported transfer of roughly 21,000 tokens to an overseas exchange has become a central part of the investigation because prosecutors and election authorities are examining whether moving the assets affected disclosure obligations.

Yonhap reported that evidence collected during the searches will be reviewed alongside testimony already gathered from Yoo, his wife and other individuals connected to the case.

The investigation remains ongoing, and police have not announced whether additional suspects will be questioned or whether charges will ultimately be filed.

Crypto investigations have remained under close watch in South Korea

The latest case adds to a series of investigations in South Korea where digital assets have become part of political or regulatory inquiries.

In June, News1 reported that police searched cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb as part of an investigation into allegations that independent lawmaker Kim Byung-gi used his political influence to help his son obtain employment at Bithumb and Dunamu, the operator of Upbit. 

Authorities questioned Kim several times while examining whether any laws had been violated through alleged influence over hiring decisions. The inquiry later expanded to include searches of Bithumb offices and interviews with exchange executives.

Although the Bithumb investigation concerns alleged employment favoritism rather than cryptocurrency ownership disclosures, both cases show that digital asset-related matters continue to receive close attention from South Korean investigators and election or financial authorities.

South Korean regulators have also maintained active oversight of the cryptocurrency sector beyond criminal investigations. Earlier this year, Bithumb challenged sanctions imposed by the Financial Intelligence Unit over alleged Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering failures after a court temporarily suspended enforcement of a partial business restriction while the exchange contests the regulator’s decision through separate legal proceedings.

Crypto asset disclosures by public officials have also drawn attention outside South Korea. Earlier this month, FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed a previously unreported purchase of between $100,001 and $250,000 in Strategy stock months after the legal filing deadline under the U.S. STOCK Act. 

Patel, however, attributed the delay to a miscommunication, while the Department of Justice said the transaction did not create a conflict of interest. Government watchdogs nevertheless criticized the late disclosure because Strategy is the world’s largest publicly traded corporate holder of bitcoin, renewing debate over financial transparency among senior public officials.

ARK Invest’s director of digital assets research, Lorenzo Valente, said on July 28 that crypto is entering its deepest consolidation phase, with revenue and investment flowing toward fewer businesses. 

He said Hyperliquid and Pump.fun account for 67% of application revenue and that adding Ethena lifts the top-three share to almost 80%.

Valente expects more mergers and acquisitions, Chapter 11 filings, shutdowns and talent-focused acquisitions in the coming months. He also claimed revenue concentration had reached record levels across applications, middleware and Layer 1 networks. However, his post did not identify the dataset, category definitions or measurement period behind those figures.

ARK Invest data shows application revenue concentrating

ARK’s Q1 2026 DeFi report provides earlier evidence of concentration, although its figures differ from Valente’s newer post. The report said total application revenue fell about 23% quarter-over-quarter to approximately $485 million. Hyperliquid generated about $145 million, Pump.fun produced $123 million and Axiom earned $58 million during the quarter.

Those three applications, not Hyperliquid and Pump.fun alone, accounted for roughly 67% of tracked application revenue through March 31. The difference does not necessarily contradict Valente’s July figures because he may have used a newer period or another classification. It does mean the 67% and 80% shares should remain attributed to his analysis rather than presented as independently confirmed measurements.

Current public dashboards also show why methodology matters. DefiLlama records $37.46 million in 30-day protocol revenue for Hyperliquid and $20.32 million for Pump.fun. For Ethena, it records $14.41 million in fees but only about $42,365 in retained protocol revenue after costs. Gross revenue, fees and revenue retained by a protocol are not interchangeable measures.

Recent bankruptcies and closures support the warning

Storj Labs filed voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings on July 26 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of West Virginia under case 5:26-bk-00512. Storj said it plans to keep its storage network operating while addressing legacy obligations under court supervision.

Separately, BitMEX said it will close its exchange on Sept. 23 after parent HDR Global Trading completed a strategic review. BitMart’s official wind-down notice stopped new registrations and deposits from July 26. BitMart plans to end trading on Aug. 26 and cease platform operations on Jan. 31, 2027.

RootData’s 2026 dead-project archive lists 99 projects that announced closures, entered bankruptcy or remained unavailable for extended periods. That total provides wider context but should not be described as 99 insolvencies because the database combines several types of failure and inactivity.

As previously reported, ZeroLend also announced a shutdown in February after citing sustainability, liquidity and operating risks. Together, these cases show that closures are occurring across centralised exchanges, lending protocols and infrastructure businesses rather than within one market segment.

Crypto M&A is targeting established infrastructure

Consolidation is also occurring through acquisitions. Payward, Kraken’s parent company, agreed on July 27 to acquire Magic Labs’ wallet-as-a-service business. The acquired infrastructure has supported more than 60 million wallets, over $10 billion in stablecoin volume and about 200,000 developers, according to the company release.

The transaction will add embedded, non-custodial wallets to Payward Services. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the parties expect closing within weeks, subject to customary conditions. As crypto.news reported, the deal gives Payward an established wallet stack and developer base rather than requiring the group to build both internally.

In related coverage, Pump.fun’s revenue and volume remained below 2025 levels despite product and fee-policy changes. That contrast fits Valente’s wider argument: a project can remain among the sector’s largest earners while facing weaker activity than during an earlier peak.

What happens next in the consolidation cycle?

The next confirmed milestones will come from corporate deadlines and court records. BitMEX users must close positions and withdraw assets before the Sept. 23 shutdown. BitMart users face the Aug. 26 trading cutoff, while Storj’s restructuring will proceed through court motions, creditor claims and any required approvals.

Payward’s Magic Labs transaction is expected to close within weeks. Valente did not give a numerical forecast for future deals, bankruptcies or shutdowns, and his post did not link to a separate ARK timetable. The expectation that consolidation will accelerate therefore remains a forward-looking assessment supported by recent cases, not a confirmed outcome.